Of Fire And Water
by Nechangi
Summary: Future ShinKai/KaiShin. Conan, the child with strange gadgets. Dangerous, you might say. KID would only agree, so after a horrible ending to a heist, he decides to check up on Conan, who was he, really? And why are people dropping dead around him? Revised: 2014-09-17
1. Oh crap, glitter trap

A/N: Beta-ed by Head Games, thank you :)

Warnings:  
>Strange English (Mixing of British and American English), OOCness<p>

Pairing:  
>Future ShinKaiKaiShin  
>Current: one-sided ConanKID<p>

Chapter rating: K+  
>Words: 1,700<br>Revised: 2014-09-13

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><p><strong>Chap.1<br>Oh Crap, Glitter Trap**

Conan dashed up the stairs as fast as his short legs could manage. With only the dim glow of the emergency lights showing him the way he struggled to catch his breath as he skidded around the bend to reach the next flight. The sound of a door slamming shut reached his ears and he knew that the roof wasn't far off.  
>'Most likely three flights of stairs left,' Conan's calculations supplied. He rounded the corner once more and a thin thread flashed conspicuously. 'Shit,' he thought as he tried to make his exhausted body jump; it refused. The small detective's sight was flooded by a sea of dark glitter. He groaned in annoyance as he hit the floor with a low thud.<br>"KID," Conan snarled as he forced his body to get up, "this calls for payback." He smirked as he dialled his shoes a little higher than normal, though careful not to let his irritation get the best of him. When turned to their maximum strength, Agasa-hakase's invention could break trees in half. He didn't want to kill or injure the thief too badly, just enough to leave one hell of a bruise.

Conan avoided both the remaining feather and slime traps before standing in front of the door that lead to the bane of his night. He paused, allowing himself to catch his breath, knowing that KID would be there, waiting for him. As he tried to calm himself a few pieces of glitter slowly fell away from him, gleaming in the light of another red exit sign. Annoyed once more he ruffled his hair, causing the world around him to come alive as thousands of tiny pieces were illuminated in a sparkling dance. He sighed and opened the door, the low cheering from the crowds from far below filled the air.

"What took you so long, Tantei-kun?" KID grinned, never taking his eyes from the diamond he held high in the air.  
>"You know," Conan mused aloud and mockingly held his hand to his chin, "I ran up 15 flights of stairs and I'm not even half your size. Considering that, why are you so slow? Your gear can't weigh that much. If it did you wouldn't be able to fly."<p>

The thief chuckled, clearly amused, "To keep the chase going, of course! What fun would I have if I outran you from the beginning, Mr. Critic?" Conan felt his eye twitch ever so slightly as the phantom thief lowered his arm and turned towards him. A look of surprise flashed past his poker face before he burst out laughing. "Dear Tantei-kun," KID cackled while bent over from laughter, "you look absolutely stunning in pink." Conan felt his cheeks burn as he looked down at himself; he was covered head to toe in a suit of hot pink. He hadn't really forgotten about the trap, but he had assumed that most of the glitter would've been dislodged by now. Apparently, most of the tiny pieces were still stuck and had no intention of going anywhere.

Still chuckling, the thief quickly mended his broken poker face while watching the boy with a wary eye; if he wasn't careful he would end up with a tranquilizer dart in his neck. The kid was dangerous, especially when enraged. Who the hell gave tranquilizer watches to kids anyway? Sure, Kaito understood why, the kid was good with it, but still.

Conan eyed his surroundings; the thief wasn't easy to hit if one went for a straight shot, and he had already used the tranquilizer during dinner when a man was murdered. He whipped up his head and glared at KID, the latter tensing by the fast movement, and gave him a sinister smile as he calculated the way the soccer ball would travel. He needed more power. They both stood tense, knowing what was coming, and eyed each other, looking for an indication of something threatening, an indication of an opening. It was the Mexican standoff. KID's hand twitched; he would go for the card gun.

Conan slowly moved to the calculated position; he had to be able to throw himself to the side at the right angle as soon as KID's gun was out. This time he had prepared a small number of smoke bombs just like the ones KID used. He warily moved his left hand toward his pocket; the thief would never risk shooting blind inside a cloud of smoke. KID's visible eye narrowed at his opponent's movements and quickly grabbed the card gun from his inner pocket. The instant KID moved, so did Conan.

The detective dropped to one knee and turned up his shoes more and at the same time his left hand shot into his pocket to grab three of the smoke bombs. He threw himself out of the way just before a card imbedded itself into the concrete where he had just been. As he tumbled he tossed the smoke bombs in front of himself before rolling into a stand and inflating the soccer ball in one fluid motion. He kicked the ball so that it would only graze KID and then continue to hit the air drum behind him, ricocheting it far from the intended target. Soon enough, the smoke blew away, revealing KID with that annoying smile on his face. By the look of things, Conan had predicted exactly how he would move. The detective forced his facial expression into an irritated frown, pretending that he hadn't missed on purpose.

Pausing just long enough to listen after the soccer ball that should've been labelled a deadly weapon, KID continued to cheerily shoot cards at the boy, his signature grin still in full force.

Conan eyed a small rock and decided to go for it; he needed KID to turn away from his current direction. Conan dodged the sharp cards and kicked the stone so that it would force KID to move towards the door. Conan continued to run in a half circle until the thief stood where he wanted him. Then Conan stopped, turned to the thief, shoved his hands into his pockets, and smiled knowingly.

KID hesitated for an instant, and that was all Conan needed. The thief's smile faltered slightly, not that any normal person would have noticed. Conan saw it however, just before the ball impacted the door and then continued to hit KID in the back. The phantom thief went flying a couple of meters before landing on the ground with a groan and Conan smiled victoriously. This round went to him. He threw a glance at the diamond that had been dropped and snorted; this wasn't nearly as satisfactory as he had hoped it would be. He was still pissed off.

Conan stared down at KID as he gasped for air, trying to fill lungs that the ball had obviously emptied. Conan snorted again and the corners of his lips twitched as a malevolent thought snuck into his head. "So…" Conan started, taking a step forward so that he was now standing on top of KID. The thief groaned when the extra weight was added to his new bruise. "This was fun," he chirped gleefully and took a step across KID. "Too bad you're so out of shape," Conan snickered darkly. KID hissed in pain and annoyance as Conan bounced on him. "Ooh, if only your lovely fans could see you now," he gloated and jumped off the thief to go and retrieve the diamond.

"Kh…" Conan looked back at KID and waited; KID was still recovering from the multiple impacts to his back.  
>"Ooh yes, your retorts only get better and better. I am veritably impressed." Every word was dripping with sarcasm and Conan could practically see the annoyance he was causing the thief.<br>"Tantei-kun," KID hissed as he seated himself, "you're too violent." Conan raised an eyebrow at the whine in the thief's voice; it sounded like he was pouting. A single set of running footsteps could be heard from beyond the newly dented door and KID let out a small whimper as he got up and ran to the edge. KID disappeared, the crowds below roared, and a moment later Hakuba bolted through the door, covered in different coloured slimes and feathers. The teen detective stared at the vanishing white glider and sighed.

Conan scowled at the sight of him.  
>"What took you so long," he snapped in irritation before going inside. Hakuba eyed him in confusion. The kid who was always cheerful and exited while at a heist disappeared down the stairs and Hakuba was certain he heard him mutter, "Incompetent moron," as he walked past him.<p>

Sure, the kid was somewhat strange; he'd never actually seen him activate a trap. Maybe that's the whole reason he was angry. Saguru shivered as the wind made the slime go cold. KID was gone, he was cold, he was tired, and he was hungry. It was time to go home, take a bath, and eat dinner. The blonde detective looked at his watch.  
>"Heist ends at approximately 19 hours, 21 minutes, and 56 seconds. Heist time, approximately 21 minutes and 56 seconds." He was careful not to get slime on his notebook as he documented the times, ending with, "Put to sleep. Five traps activated." He observed the dented door suspiciously; it hadn't been that way when he checked it earlier. He continued, "Circular indentation, hemisphere, 20 centimetres in diameter, on exterior of the door to the roof." He quickly jotted it down and went to examine the dented air vent.<p>

The darkness in the building showed that the taskforce still hadn't recovered the lights and he noted, maybe a bit too satisfied, that Hakuba had managed to trip the two traps that he'd passed. As he got down to the exhibition floor the lights finally came back on and he sighed in relief; his watch was useless in its currently broken state, which only served as a reminder to what a truly horrible day he had just had. It really had been a day that started way too early and only went from bad to worse. Hurting KID hadn't quite made up for the suffering he'd had to go through. Oh well, time to laugh at the taskforce members glued to the floor.


	2. The Law of Murphy

A/N: I have enhanced Shinichi's ability to act like a child, when he puts his mind to it.

Warnings:  
>Strange English, a bit of OOCness,<p>

Chapter rating: T  
>Words: 3,400<br>Revised: 2014-09-13

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><p><strong>Chap. 2<br>The Law of Murphy**

_Earlier that day…_

A heavy body fell on top of him and startled he woke up. The man was lying with his back on him, still snoring loudly and Conan felt like he was being crushed. He tried to struggle his way out from underneath but the drunkard was too heavy, so he did what any reasonable person would do when faced with oxygen deprivation and death by crushing. He sank his teeth into the arm that was laid across his face and bit as hard as he could. The worthless detective screamed in pain and flew off of him. Conan could taste blood but didn't care as he had an air supply to re-establish. Kogoro glared at the wound in his arm and then shifted his gaze to the only other occupant of the room. Conan felt a tug in his collar, he then left the comforting floor as he was carried to the door and thrown out.

He was still trying to regain his sight as he heard quick footsteps and a terrified; "Conan-kun!" He was then picked up again and brought to the bathroom so he could wash away the blood that was around his mouth. Ran kept asking what had happened and Conan decided that he wanted revenge for what he'd had to do. Biting Kogoro wasn't pleasant, and the mere thought of what he'd done made him want to throw up. So he mustered up the cutest, teary-eyed, hurt expression he could manage and whined in a terrified voice. "Uncle Kogoro fell on top of me, I couldn't breathe, I couldn't move," tears formed in the corners of his eyes and he tugged lightly in the pyjama shirt, "I thought I was going to die!" Conan's voice shivered and he held up his trembling arms to get a hug.

"Ran-neechan," he mumbled as she held him close. His head resting on her shoulder, she slowly patted his back and whispered; "You're safe now" and "it's going to be alright". Conan sniffed lightly as his 'crying' slowly stopped. Ran gently placed her beloved little brother back on the footstool in the bathroom. "And then, and then, he threw me out of the room, I hit the wall," Conan lied and stared at Ran with big, cute eyes, "it hurt!" He rubbed his eyes and as he removed his hands he saw the expression of disgust and anger in Ran's eyes, which promised nothing but pain. 'Oh, goodie. I'm getting way to good at this,' he thought as he was carried into the living room.

His stomach growled, making him blush, but Ran only gave him an understanding smile. "I know it's early, but I'll make you something," she smiled gently. Her voice was sweet as she turned around and continued, "and then I'm going to _talk_ to dad about this." Conan could practically see the fury emitting from her as she went into the kitchen. He looked at his watch in annoyance, it was almost 4.50 in the morning and he wanted more sleep.

As he began eating his breakfast he saw how Ran marched towards Kogoro's bedroom, and she did not disappoint. A yelp and a terrified scream echoed through the house. Kogoro yelled something at his daughter, only to be interrupted by her own voice. A bam was heard, probably Ran's fist through some random object, or maybe a wall. Kogoro was completely quiet and Conan smirked pleased as he ate, he knew how terrifying Ran could be. She continued to rant in a loud voice, not screaming anymore, but still very loud.

After a couple of yelps and the loud bang of a door, she showed up in the living room fuming with anger and Conan continued on his little charade.  
>"Ran-neechan?" He asked warily and in a small and anxious voice, "are you angry with me?" She looked at the 'scared' little boy and melted.<br>"No, Conan-kun, I'm angry at dad for hurting you."  
>"But I, but I was the one who woke you up," he winced and fidgeted his hands, staring down at them; he would be extra cute and lovely towards her these coming days.<p>

Kogoro had slowly made his way to the kitchen, Conan only threw him a glance and then ignored him. He was limping slightly, he had probably received more than one bump and a couple of bruises.  
>"Your breakfast is in the kitchen," Ran stated coldly when she saw him and he tensed at the anger in her voice.<br>"Yes ma'am," he quietly mumbled and shivered.

* * *

><p>At eight he had received a text from Haibara, asking him to come over when he had time; they needed to talk. He replied and showed up at professor Agasa's home 20 minutes later.<br>"You wanted to talk?" he said while looking around the basement-turned-lab. She was typing fast on the computer and sighed.  
>"You always knew that I might not be able to ever make a complete cure," she slowed down her typing as she was talking, "I know you have a lot of faith in my knowledge and that you are certain that I'm going to finish the antidote in only a couple of months, or a year."<p>

She stopped typing and spun the desk chair around to look at him. "I'm afraid I might not be able to do it…" she whispered as she got of the chair.  
>"Oi, oi, Haibara. You can't give up. You've already made a number of temporary cures, they worked just fine," he answered in a sigh. He was worried but he'd be damned if he'd let it show.<br>"Your body is building up an immunity, you know that, and it isn't as easy as you think," she scowled, 'I need the original poison', she wanted to say it, but it would only cause Kudou-kun to do something stupid and reckless.

"It will take a lot longer than you think," Haibara saw how he raised an eyebrow, "not just three or four years, it might take up to ten or twenty years. And after twenty years, it wouldn't even matter anymore..."  
>"No, that's not acceptable," Conan shook his head and folded his arms across his chest, "isn't there anything that could speed up the process?"<p>

She slowly nodded and sighed as she gave up on the struggle to not tell the truth.  
>"You know, Kudou-kun," she started in a tired voice, "I might be able to finish an antidote in a month, but five to ten years is more likely, and the original poison to do tests on would speed up the process, but five years is the most accurate prognosis." She saw that well known gleam of determination in his eyes that told her that he would stop at nothing.<p>

"I just wanted to make sure you understood the situation that there might not even be a cure. And I want you to consider the consequences of being gone, not only 19 months, but five to ten years. The organisation we're up against won't go down easily." Conan nodded more to himself than to her.  
>"What brought this up? You're usually not the person to doubt yourself," he was curious and Haibara stared at him.<br>"I've been going over the same calculations over and over again, tried to make them different, tried different things, I even went so far as to try what effect different polishing agents and spices would do to it. I honestly don't know what to do, but I will never give up." Haibara sighed in frustration, and Conan realised how old and tired she looked with dark rings under her eyes, despite her young appearance.  
>"Are you sleeping at all?" he asked and narrowed his eyes.<br>"Nightmares." The response was mumbled and quiet.  
>"And they don't have anything to do with this little chat, do they?" His suspicion was confirmed when she got back up on her chair and mumbled.<br>"Maybe a little, just think about the consequences. Ten years and you wouldn't need a cure…"

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><p>As Conan was riding the skateboard, a car almost ran him over, he had to jump of and ended up in a garbage can. The car crashed into the wall of a building, not even trying to slow down. No sound of tires screeching, only the sound of metal crying in pain as it was forcefully bent against the concrete wall. People yelled in panic and ran in different directions. "Call an ambulance!" a man screamed. Conan crawled out of the garbage can with a curse and gave it a kick for good measure.<p>

He stared at the spectacle all around him. The blue sports car was on fire, some stared at the car, others ran in circles, screaming, and a few tried to put the flames out. To Conan it was obvious that the driver was dead, the car was pretty much smashed into pieces. No driver would survive their car being crushed into half of the original size, and the ground beneath the car was overflowing with blood, not to mention the arm of a woman that was imbedded into the wall of the parking garage. 'Belt wouldn't even help,' he thought as he got to his feet and glanced down at the debris that was once a solar powered skateboard, 'that was… _close_.'

Conan watched as the minor fire was quickly restricted, and as an ambulance and two police cars stopped at the scene. 'Time to play kid again,' he sighed and ran to the patrol car.  
>"Officer Yumi!" he chirped as he got closer to her and she turned around. As soon as she saw him she smiled.<br>"Conan-kun! Did you see what happened?" she asked, worried that he was traumatised, and looked at him in concern when he nodded.  
>"Yes, I was almost run over! My skateboard broke," he continued, and in a more considerate voice he told Yumi and her partner what had happened, not including the whole 'diving in the garbage'-deal.<p>

He was introduced to her new partner, Miike Naeko, and they gushed over his cuteness as the other police officers from the second car, collected eyewitness testimonies. It took him at least half an hour just to get away, and he left running with a; "Bye bye, officer Yumi, officer Miike," he waved and as he rounded a corner his smile vanished.

* * *

><p>When he got home, he heard talking voices from the office and he peeked in. In the room was a lady, sitting on the couch with her back to him, the only thing he could see of her was a hat. "-ink he's cheating on me, that's why I would like you to investigate." Conan groaned inwardly, adultery cases weren't anything he'd ever investigate. "I have reserved a table at Mingins, that's where he's going," she said in a matter of fact voice.<p>

"R-reserved? At M-Mingins? How do you know that's where he's going?" Kogoro asked stunned and wide eyed. Conan saw how the sorry excuse of a man almost started to drool, Mingins was famous for their food and liquor.  
>"I've noticed that he carries their matches, oh, and I will of course pay for the food and drinks," the woman stood up and handed him a check. "This is half of the payment, I want pictures of him kissing that slut, so I can divorce him without giving him a cent. You will get the other half when I get the pictures." Conan closed the door and ran up the stairs to the living area.<p>

He sneaked inside and held the door slightly ajar. "I know you have two children, you shall bring them too; I reserved a table for three." Conan closed the door when the sound of her high heels started to descend down the stairs.  
>"Ran-neechan! I'm home!" Conan said and ran for the bathroom; he needed a shower.<br>"Welcome home," Ran smiled as he walked past her, she was carrying newly folded clothing.  
>"I'm going to shower, I fell into a garbage can while playing," he said, and snorted in his thought, the ridiculousness of what had happened struck him. He, Kudou Shinichi, the famous high school detective, the Saviour of the Police Force, the Modern Sherlock Holmes, had taken a dive, in a garbage can, not even looking for evidence, now that's just too ridiculous.<p>

Now as fate would have it, they were out of warm water, so he hurried as fast as he could but still ended up as a trembling mess. As he went to the living room once again, he could hear the muffled voices of a begging Kogoro and an angry Ran. Conan strained his ears.  
>"NO! You can't have the money! You're not going to gamble up this cheque! You're not the one who's buying diner!" Conan heard Kogoro ask something low in return. "Yes, we're going to the restaurant, but that doesn't mean you can drink! How are you going to perform the client's task if you're drunk?!" Conan walked down the stairs to the office and saw how Kogoro grumbled and sat down behind his desk. He wasn't allowed gambling or beer until he had solved that case.<br>"Hey, brat in glasses!" Conan heard the loud-mouths voice, as if the day couldn't get any worse. He stared annoyed at Suzuki Sonoko, who was smiling at him from the pavement.

"Ran-neechan! Sonoko-neechan is here!" he announced as he walked into the office with Sonoko behind him. Conan ignored everyone as he sat down and read the newspaper for anything suspicious. The front page had the heist, which they would be attending, printed on it. 'Like there is nothing as important as a thief.' Conan sighed as Kogoro fell asleep by his desk. One hour passed and he was awakened by Ran for a very early lunch, which Sonoko attended in a complete KID-fangirl mode. Conan felt as if his ears were going to bleed.

* * *

><p>As he was walking down the stone stairs he fell, and hit his legs and arms on the way down. Conan hissed in pain as he seated himself and breathed deeply while he allowed the pain to wear off. Ran was right beside him worrying and checking for any serious injuries. He limped a little as they walked but he bluntly refused to let anyone carry him, he'd played 'cute child' enough for one day.<p>

To say that Conan was slightly irritated as they got to the restaurant at 16.00 would be an understatement. 'Who eats dinner at four?' he thought and glanced around, apparently the husband and his mistress would show up half an hour later. As Kogoro's target entered, at the same time as their dinner was brought, the drunkard got up and walked towards the restroom. Conan saw how he hid behind a pillar and quickly got the camera up to wait. The husband kissed his mistress and they sat down.

"Easiest case yet," he murmured to them, when he got back to the table, and then laughed very loudly, earning irritated looks from the people closest to them.  
>"Mou, dad!" Ran whispered embarrassed and sent apologetic looks at the irritated people. Dinner certainly made Conan's day better, it was delicious! However, it didn't take long before the scream of a woman echoed through the restaurant. The target was dead.<p>

Conan quickly figured out that it was the lover who had killed the husband, even though she had created a mountain of evidence against the wife. The poison had been smeared on the inside of his gloves and Kogoro made a fool of himself, as usual. Conan put the chair in place, opened the watch and heard a low 'Meeehff.' He stared in the direction of the sound; no one else had heard it, as they were concentrated on the loud ranting from the famous Sleeping Kogoro.

A man was sitting on his chair, his two friends were standing in between him and the loud detective. 'Please, tell me he's just asleep!' Conan thought as he aimed the watch at Kogoro and fired. He waited, nothing happened and he felt himself freeze inside out. 'Oi oi, don't tell me I just darted that person?' he sneaked up to the person and glanced him over. He was asleep, and Conan pulled out the dart from his wrist. 'Damn, sorry,' he thought and turned to Kogoro, he would have to guide him the old tiresome way. Conan growled inwardly and got to work. "A le le!"

* * *

><p>Conan glared at his watch; he most have broken it when he fell down the stairs at the agency. This had been the longest day of his life. He glanced around in annoyance; inspector Nakamori would never learn to have as few people as possible at heists. The place was filled with policemen in riot gear and he sighed; it would be easy for KID. The only thing that was missing from his messed up day was Ran finding out that he was Shinichi, or the black organisation on his doorstep.<br>"What about your husband?" Sonoko asked Ran teasingly, and interrupted her protests with; "Have you heard anything from him lately?"

Conan that had tuned out their talking, looked up in surprise; Sonoko actually sounded really concerned.  
>"No," Ran answered with a shake of her head, "I'm really worried." She let her gaze rest on the floor and Sonoko clenched her fists.<br>"How dare he! He's been gone for over one and a half year, what's his problem?" she ranted angrily and Conan felt a jolt of guilt as he remembered Haibara's words.

"Umm, Ran-neechan?" he began nervously, "would you wait for Shinichi-niichan even if he was gone three more years?" Both Sonoko and Ran looked down at him with equally confused looks. "Hey, brat!" Sonoko roared and bent down to stare at him, "do you know how long he's going to be away?" Conan shook his head quickly.  
>"What if Shinichi-niichan, is going to be away for a very long time?" he said and looked at Ran, "would you still wait for him, five or ten years?"<p>

Sonoko, who seemed to have lost her voice, gaped and Ran only looked heartbroken.  
>"Conan-kun, don't say things like that, it brings bad luck," Ran crouched down to his level and pulled him in for a hug, "he won't be gone that long, he can't. He will be back, he has to." As they parted, she dried her eyes that threatened to overflow. "Why wouldn't he?" Conan stared at her and Sonoko seemed to regain her senses from the shock.<p>

"How could anyone be so heartless to ask another to wait for them? And then be gone for five years?" Sonoko screeched in complete ire, "If he really loved Ran, he wouldn't do such a thing!" The guilt Conan felt almost paralyzed him, it made him dizzy and a bit like he would be sick. He never really thought about what he was asking Ran to do. "If he really loved Ran, he would come back! And if he for some reason can't come back, he should let Ran go, because then he doesn't actually love her!" Conan's heart quenched in pain as Sonoko was hushed by an upset Ran that said that she will wait, one year at the time.  
>"I'm sorry, Ran," he said silently and walked away.<p>

He turned around a corner and headed for the restroom. The young boy pulled up his cell phone and made sure he was alone. He dialled the phone number and waited.  
>"Ah! Cool kid!" A cheery voice answered.<br>"Hello, Jodie-sensei!" he mumbled, "I have a question that I need an answer to, but you might not be able to give me one." The phone went quiet as she waited for the question. "How long do you think it will take to bring _them_ down?"

He stood there in silence waiting, while she was pondering the question. People passed on the outside of the restroom, some chatting and others laughing.  
>"Jodie-sensei?" he asked in the phone.<br>"I don't know," she sighed, "I've been chasing them for my entire life, we're closer now than ever, but that could change tomorrow, or in a week from now. There is no way to know for certain." They finished their conversation and he closed the phone. Kudou Shinichi would never be able to return if _they_ weren't brought down, not without marking everyone he cared for as a target.  
>"I hate this day," he grumbled to himself as he went back to the exhibit, and his words was drowned in the bellowing of inspector Nakamori. 'Really, <em>really<em>, hate this day.'


	3. Post Heist Symptoms

A/N: Chapter revised, so there are less spelling mistakes.

Warnings:  
>Strange English (Mixing of British and American English), OOCness<p>

Chapter rating: K+  
>Words: 3,100<br>Revised: 2014-09-14

* * *

><p>Post-heist symptoms may include; Back pain, pain in general, abrasions, soreness, headache, disorientation, scratches, cuts, tiredness, wounded pride, dirty clothes, torn clothes and of course, football bruises.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Chap.3<br>Post-Heist Symptoms**

The teenager woke up with a groan of agony as sunlight flooded his vision and he carefully pulled the cover over his head. His back was burning terribly in pain and he wanted more sleep, but the gentle cooing of doves reminded him that he had to go to the pet store to buy more food for them.  
>'And while I'm at it, I might as well buy more roses,' the young man thought and grinned as he felt the small steps of a one of them on top of his head. He yawned and closed his eyes; he didn't actually need to get up before the alarm went off, and he always woke up before it. The dove, however, had apparently decided that he was going to get up now. It jumped to the pillow and slowly dug its way underneath the covers.<p>

Kaito, which was the young man's name, opened one eye and smiled at the bird that was now standing in front of his face, gently cooing at him.  
>"Good morning, Michi," he mumbled and closed his eye, "I can see that you let yourself in here, what about the others? Did you help them too?" The dove cooed in, what Kaito would call, a confirmation and the others in the room flew over to his bed cooing happily as he peaked out from his hiding place. He knew that if he didn't get up they would start digging their way into his bed, forcing him to get up. "Yes, yes, I'm awake, I'm getting up now," he gritted his teeth as he slowly and carefully seated himself on his bed, only to have birds in his hair and on his shoulders.<p>

"So… Anyone hungry?" The doves flew up from the bed and into the air, and in a flurry of feathers all of them were seated on different places in his room, cooing merrily and watching him. As the teen magician cautiously got up from the bed he could feel his entire body aching. "Ugh, Tantei-kun," he grumbled as all of the pain seemed to originate from his back, "you're so evil." Kaito wailed as he picked up the bird food and handed it out to de different areas. "Evil, evil, evil little kid," he muttered and picked up clean clothes.

"Who gives a kid those kinds of things? That should be illegal," Kaito sighed as he closed the bathroom door and hissed in pain when he crawled out of his pyjama shirt. Breathing hurt, walking hurt, lifting his arms hurt and he turned his back towards the mirror.  
>"Tsk," he said in annoyance and eyed the bruise. 'I can see the mark of a football,' he rose his eyebrow as the corner of his mouth twitched, 'it's kind of funny, in an absurd way, the great Kaitou KID-sama, has a "football-bruise", made by an eight-year-old.' He started to chuckle in amusement, but quickly stopped with a wheeze of pain.<p>

"Never, ever, am I having a heist close to Beika on a Sunday," he grumbled quietly at his one reflection and heard the alarm go of in his room. 'Oh, time go get up,' he grinned and took a deep breath. "Jun! Nao! Turn it off!" He waited for a second and the alarm went silent, 'how could anyone live without doves?' Still grinning he began to plan new pranks, 'since I'm a bit injured, I need to get revenge. And Hakuba is back, that's always fun, but foremost I have to get back at Tantei-kun!'

* * *

><p>The bell rang just as Kaito opened the door to the classroom for his childhood friend Aoko and bowed. She eyed him suspiciously when she passed him into the room.<br>"My lady," he said while bowing. "What's today's colour?" he continued with malevolence glowing from his eyes as he ignored the pain in his back and lifted her skirt. "F-FISH!" the magician cried out and threw himself away from the source of horror and unimaginable evil. He landed on his back with a cough of pain and Aoko smiled victoriously.  
>"I can show them again during lunch, if you want to," she said teasingly and continued into the classroom.<br>"The class has started!" the teacher proclaimed in a loud voice and Kaito slowly crawled up from the floor by using the wall for support, "take your seat."

'Ooh, new teacher, time to have fun,' the teenager smiled sweetly at the woman, took her hand in his and gently kissed it. "My stunningly fair lady, I beg forgiveness for the disturbance I have caused," he murmured in a seductive voice and offered her a rose. 'It will happen again,' he thought chuckling viciously in his head, 'you'll see.' The class stared at the scene Kaito was causing; they knew that he was lying through his teeth. The Ekoda High School prankster was never sorry about what he did, and a new teacher meant that he would focus much more of his attention on her instead of them, which was always good.

The teacher stood in front of the class, blushing, while Kaito sat down by his desk.  
>"Well," she cleared her throat and looked over the class, "as you know Hayashi-sensei has gone on vacation." Kaito grinned as Hayashi hadn't told them anything, making him unable to have the correct preparations in place for a new teacher. "My name is Maruyama-sensei, and I hope we can get along for this month." Hakuba met the pranksters eyes as Kaito turned around to leer at him and he sighed; he was prepared for the worst ever since he decided to come back unannounced.<p>

"My apologies sensei," Kaito said as he held his hand high in the air, "did Hayashi-sensei inform you anything specific about this class?"  
>"No, is there anything I should know?" Maruyama looked a bit stunned by the question and Kaito's grin widened.<br>"Ah, no, nothing of importance," the magician looked out across the class smiling sweetly; Christmas came early, and if anyone disturbed his moment of happiness, they would become the next victim. They would never dear to cross him, not with a new teacher to harass and his eyes fell on Hakuba. He would be the only one to actually predict one his tricks on the teacher. The detective shrugged slightly.

"In this class there's the infamous prankster of Ekoda High," he threw a glance at Kaito, "prepare yourself." He had to warn her; he was one of the magician's favourite targets, so it wouldn't matter anyway. The detective's words rang pleasantly in Kaito's head; they were so full of doom and the teacher blinked confused.  
>"Oh," she said and started the lesson, not quite knowing what she'd gotten herself into.<p>

Kaito hummed quietly to himself, 'I have to thank Hayashi-sensei for this unexpected gift.' A whole month, he had a _whole month_ to play with the new teacher. Usually when they got a new teacher it was because someone was ill, and they only stayed for a couple of days or a week at most, if Kaito hadn't managed to scare them away before that. And there, before him, stood a teacher who didn't know anything; he could use all tricks since elementary school! Kaito didn't notice that he was grinning like a madman as he stared at the teacher, or that the whole class was eyeing him warily, waiting for his pranks to commence.

A bright flash made the teacher turn around and look at the students who themselves were quickly glancing around the room to assess what kind of damage had been done, some had even chosen to protect themselves over their head with the math books. Maruyama sent them a confused look, but shrugged it away. Kaito beamed as he came up with a perfect trick; he was going to make the teacher think she was seeing things. Tomorrow morning he would prepare for a show that she would never forget, but first he had to activate the old trap.

When lunch break closed in Kaito hadn't done anything more than that first initial flash bomb and the class were starting to get nervous ever since he began having small outbursts of evil low chuckles. The students of class 2B twitched by every movement he made and the atmosphere was heavy. They didn't know that he was planning for the lessons of tomorrow, or his revenge on a certain small detective.

When the bell rang for lunch, the room was filled with a loud bang and white smoke. Maruyama and most of the class screamed as they were lifted up into the air by the trap the magician had set up last Friday; it was a tryout for a heist. Kaito took his things and left; he needed to check out Tantei-kun's teachers at school so he went for the restroom. He would be a woman, a mother, looking for a suitable school for her daughter.

The smoke slowly cleared to expose that the students was indeed floating in the air, or rather, their chairs and benches were while the class was clinging to them. The teacher stared at them with a chocked expression as she hung from the ceiling with her mouth duct taped shut. There were feathers on the floor and all of the students had their hair turned pink. The half-Brit looked around and jumped of his chair to help the teacher; he'd expected worse.

* * *

><p>'Name; Kichida Hanako, age; 32, shall move to Beika district, has a daughter; 8 years old, name; Kichida Chiharu,' Kaito sighed quietly as he walked with his head high. He was dressed in a tight skirt with an open incision along his leg. He wore black high heels that made a pleasant click for every step. He'd given Kichida Hanako stylish black hair and somewhat expensive jewellery, enough to be eye-catching. He had a tight shirt covered by a feminine suit and sunglasses. Everything about his clothing was made to show off his fake feminine shape and screamed 'lawyer'. He pulled down his fashionable sunglasses and looked over the brim at the school ground.<br>'Hello Tantei-kun,' he smiled in his head. His bruise hindered him from doing any prank, so this would be a simple reconnaissance mission.

He entered the school grounds and immediately began memorising the layout; the playground, the field, the exterior of the building, the air vents and possible escape routes. He threw a glance at the kids in PE class that were playing football and smiled. 'Tantei-kun must be great at it.' As he left the school grounds and entered the building he started to feel wary; his disguises were always perfect and yet that kid could somehow always spot him. 'Whatever happens, stay calm and remember your poker face,' Kaito took a deep breath, feeling every muscle aching in his back, and let a gentle smile show on his face. As he quickly walked through the corridor he peaked into every room, if it was occupied he'd look around the students and excuse himself very politely.

He worked quickly, memorising everything, and as he turned around a corner a man stood before him.  
>"Oh, and who might you be?" the old man wondered and smiled.<br>'He probably looks older than what he is,' Kaito mused. "My name is Kichida Hanako," he bowed, "and who might you be?" The man's smile widened.  
>"I am Ryujiro Uematsu, I am the principal of this school."<br>"Excuse me Mr. Principal I tried calling, but no one answered," Kaito lied with a natural smile, "my husband and I are probably going to move to this area, so I thought I would come and have a look at the school my daughter would be attending, she's very shy and have always been bullied," the thief stated worriedly and shook his head, "I just wanted to see what kind of atmosphere this school has."

"How old is she?" the Principal asked as he nodded understandingly.  
>"She's eight and her name is Chiharu," Kaito smiled.<br>"If she were to attend this school, she would be put in Kobayashi-sensei's class. She's a great teacher," the old man started walking, assuming that Kaito would follow.  
>'I don't have time for this, I need to find Tantei-kun's class and talk to his teacher,' Kaito thought as he followed the man.<br>"We have had four new students already, and they have been accepted nicely into her class, she even had this little detective game to make them one with the class," the Principal told Kaito with a small chuckle and the thief narrowed his eyes behind his sunglasses.  
>'Oi oi, don't tell me he's bringing me to Tantei-kun's class,' he thought as the man stopped in front of a door and opened it.<p>

"This is Kobayashi-sensei's class," the woman named Kobayashi turned towards the door with a surprised look as the principal entered. Kaito threw a glance at the board, '14x20' it said and Kaito groaned inwardly; there was no way that a kid who could avoid his traps, see through his movements and calculate the distance and time it would take for that hellish ball to hit him would be in this class, he must attend some class specially designed for gifted children.  
>"Principal Uematsu!" a little girl with a pink headband called out excitedly and the other students greeted the old man.<br>"Ah, hello there Yoshida-chan," he said chuckling and everyone's eyes ended up on Kaito. The teacher smiled friendly at him as he threw a glance over the students.

His eyes met with a pair of deep blue ones, and he was torn between laughing like a maniac and running away, but moved instead his gaze to the others.  
>"Hello, I am Kichida Hanako. I am very sorry to interrupt your class," Kaito bowed to the teacher and to the class.<br>"It's okay, we're just repeating," Kobayashi said still smiling and Kaito couldn't help but to think she looked a lot like the police woman Satou Miwako, whom he'd met while sneaking around the police station; he knew almost all of the police officers by now. The thief's senses tingled as he felt Tantei-kun's burning eyes on him.  
>"My husband and I will probably be moving to this area, so I came to see the school my daughter Chiharu would be attending," the class erupted into an exited murmur while the burning sensation disappeared and the thief glanced over the class, Tantei-kun was talking to a girl with auburn hair, and he was looking extremely bored as he was seated with his chin resting in his left hand.<p>

The principal and the teacher ensured Kaito how great the class was and that they would take care of her daughter while the students had stopped their counting and started talking and playing with each other. Kaito wanted nothing more than to turn the conversation around to talk about Kobayashi instead. Their talk was interrupted by the bell and the children darted out of the room.  
>"Kichida-san!" the girl from before called out and continued when he looked at her, "my name is Yoshida Ayumi, and this is Tsuburaya Mitsuhiko-kun," the girl smiled and held into an arm of a skinny and freckled boy, who was blushing slightly and looking at the little girl.<p>

"And this is Kojima Genta-kun," she continued and latched into the arm of a round boy, who also blushed and received an annoyed glare from the other boy. "That is Haibara Ai-chan," Ayumi pointed to the girl, whom Tantei-kun had been talking to; she was standing by her bench and slowly packed her things, ignoring the strange woman who had been brought to the classroom. "And this! This is Edogawa Conan-kun!" the girl said beaming and latched into Tantei-kun's arm blushing. The small detective looked uncomfortable and seemed to know that the other two boys were glaring at him. 'Interesting,' Kaito thought and smiled gently.

"My my," the thief said innocently, "you two would make a great couple." Tantei-kun blushed and Ayumi became a deeper red. "I actually met my husband in elementary school," Kaito lied and saw how the girl lit up. 'Tantei-kun, what a mess you have,' he chuckled inside his head, it was obvious that the two boys fancied the girl, while she fancied his Tantei-kun.  
>"We're The Detective Boys!" the girl smiled, still holding onto his arm.<br>"Oh, are you all detectives then?" Kaito asked and continued to listen to their stories while Kobayashi jumped into the story telling from time to time, making no try to leave or to chase them out.

The Detective Boys left and Tantei-kun sent him a suspicious glance that made the thief numb on the inside. Kobayashi accompanied him and he was able to get some information from her. They stood and talked by the gate to the school for a while before he excused himself and left. He turned a corner and glanced around, the street was almost empty; not counting a few kids who were leaving the school. He opened his hand bag and a white dove flew out and up into the air. He continued on his path, knowing that Michi, mounted with a small camera and microphone on her leg, would find her target. Just as he was about to turn another corner a child stepped around and glared at him. 'Tantei-kun,' Kaito's thoughts panicked for a second, and adrenaline entered his bloodstream, why was this child setting him on edge?

"You're the boy from Kobayashi-sensei's class, Edogawa-kun right?" Kaito asked calmly, "is there anything I can do for you?" Tantei-kun's eyes narrowed slightly and Kaito swallowed; had he been found out?  
>"Vermouth," Tantei-kun said and the intelligence in his eyes made him look older than he was, "what are you doing here?" Kaito stared at him in shock.<br>'What the hell is he talking about? He thinks I'm someone else, someone named Vermouth… Wait, Vermouth, that's an alcohol, an alias?' He continued to stare at the child in front of him.

"Vermouth?" he said slowly and Tantei-kun's expression changed, panic flitted through his eyes and he waved his hands in front of himself.  
>"Ah, no-no, I-I, I meant, I saw on the news yesterday that a lady would visit a school today, she would be named 'Vermouth' and if you found her you would win a Kamen Yaiba figure!" Tantei-kun explained panicked in the beginning but slid into a childlike innocence still waving his arms.<br>'Creepy,' Kaito thought and blinked at him, 'Tantei-kun's acting like a child.' Tantei-kun blushed and mumbled something.  
>"Oh, I see!" Kaito smiled kindly at the detective.<br>"Bye," the child whispered and ran the way that Kaito had walked. He stood staring after Tantei-kun as the boy turned a corner and disappeared, 'Vermouth, huh?'


	4. The Detective Boys Vs Kichida Hanako

A/N:

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness,<p>

Chapter rating: K  
>Words: 4,100<br>Revised: 2014-09-14

* * *

><p><strong>Chap. 4<strong>  
><strong>The Detective Boys Vs. Kichida Hanako<strong>

Conan panted as he leaned his back against the wall. He waited a couple of seconds and then peaked around the corner; the strange woman was crossing the road.  
>'Who was that?' he thought and stared after her; at first he'd thought it was Vermouth, but since Haibara hadn't acted scared he came to the conclusion that it was one of his parents', or just his mother's, annoying stunts again. He called her, while observing the woman talk with Kobayashi-sensei, but since Yukiko had answered he'd hung up on her the moment she did.<p>

So he was back at the conclusion that it was Vermouth, so Haibara maybe hadn't been able to sense her this time. He watched as the woman said something about injuring her right shoulder and they both laughed, but when the woman began walking away he ran around a corner and activated the tracking device on his glasses. When the woman had been focused on the kids he'd stuck a transmitter on her shoe, and he grinned as he saw her walking his way and stepped out in front of her.

* * *

><p>Conan was ready to die of mortification; the woman hadn't reacted like Vermouth would've done, or like any organisation member. Vermouth was one of the high ranking members, so far had he figured, and another member would have reacted at the name of an alcoholic beverage thrown in their face. He had been wrong, but there still was something off about that woman. When the kids had been talking about the bloodiest and most gruesome cases they'd worked on she hadn't reacted with worry, which would've been what any parent should show, especially if they are so concerned about their child's wellbeing that they would check out a school that their child <em>might <em>attend, _if_ they moved to the area.

Conan left his hiding place and ran around the corner only to face three irritated children and a spiteful Haibara.  
>"You're running off again!" Ayumi complained.<br>"Conan!" Genta roared angrily.  
>"It's a case, isn't it?" Mitsuhiko glared at him with his arms folded across his chest while Haibara only stared at him with a smug smile.<br>"No, there's no case," Conan said and held up his hands.  
>"You're lying!" Genta claimed and snatched his glasses. "Ha! The tracking device is on!" Conan felt himself panic once again.<br>"Wait!" He roared and the Detective Boys froze confused in their movement. He took back the glasses and grabbed Haibara's hand.

"That woman, something's off," he whispered as he pulled her away, "are you certain you didn't feel anything from her?" Haibara shook her head. "Could there be a possibility that you're wrong, and she is one of them?" The shrunken scientist sighed.  
>"If she was one of them, what is she doing here? If we'd been found out they would have sent someone to either kill us, blow the school up, or pick us up on our way home to interrogate us and then kill us," she said in a cold 'matter of fact'-voice, "and they would have sent more than one to capture a traitor and a famous detective." Haibara left him and he sighed; he still needed to retrieve the transmitter and the kids probably wouldn't let him leave alone.<p>

"OK, fine," Conan sighed, "I was tracking that woman, Kichida Hanako." The Detective Boys stared at him.  
>"Why?" Ayumi wanted to know.<br>"To hone my detective skills," Conan lied and the kids eyed him suspiciously.  
>"You weren't just amazed by her beauty?" Genta said with a grin which made Ayumi look a bit hurt.<br>"I saw you, you were looking at her legs," Mitsuhiko said disapprovingly and shook his head.  
>"Baaroo, I was looking for a place to put the transmitter," Conan answered annoyed and blushed, giving Ayumi a relieved look. "Anyway, we're just going to shadow her; it won't be interesting," he told them and turned to the road crossing.<br>"Detective Boys, Go!" the kids chorused as Conan turned his back to them with a sigh.

* * *

><p>The Detective Boys followed him closely so he wouldn't be able to disappear and after some time they reached the central of Beika.<br>"Aw, I want ice cream too," Genta complained when they caught up to Hanako, who was currently sitting at the far end of a café enjoying a huge glass of chocolate ice cream and flirting with a waiter.  
>"You can go and eat something if you want to, but this is a stakeout, and don't drink too much. I won't wait for you if you need to go to the toilet," Conan muttered and Mitsuhiko nodded.<br>"Understood," he said and turned to Ayumi, "do you want something Ayumi-chan?"  
>"No thanks," she shook her head and Mitsuhiko grabbed Genta's arm ran away with him.<p>

"Are you sure you don't want anything to eat?" Conan asked when Ayumi's stomach grumbled.  
>"No, I won't let the suspect flee!" she said with conviction and Conan gave her a funny look.<br>"She's not a suspect, it's just training," he sighed quietly and opened his bag, "here. You can have this. It's not much but it's better than nothing." Ayumi stared at the apple in Conan's hand and blushed.  
>"But, what about you?" she wondered and took it.<br>"I'll be fine, don't worry."

The woman at the café got up and waved for the waiter she'd been talking to earlier.  
>"Oi oi, don't tell me she just flirted her way to a free ice cream," Conan said when he saw how the woman thanked the waiter and left without paying.<br>"The target is on the move," Ayumi informed the others through the detective badge and he threw her a glance; she'd been watching too many spy movies, "take your time, and when you guys are finished I can tell you where we are."

* * *

><p>Conan, Ayumi and Haibara followed Hanako to a shopping mall where they hid as she went shopping.<br>"See, I told you she wasn't one of them," Haibara mumbled and gave him an annoying look. The woman was going through a flower shop looking at roses. "What's wrong with you? You've been so quiet all day," she gave him a 'spit it out, or else'-look, making Conan sigh.  
>"I took your advice; I'm thinking about the consequences. I can't continue to hurt Ran like I've been doing. You know," he said with a dry laugh, "Sonoko took Ran's phone and gave me a call yesterday evening to yell at me, nothing I haven't heard before, but still. I knew I was hurting Ran, but I never realised that I'm actually asking her to put her life on hold for me. I have two choices; Leave her, or tell her."<p>

Haibara opened her mouth to protest, but didn't have enough time before Conan started talking once again. "And the last option is a bad one; if she starts treating me differently, if she slips and calls me Shinichi, if she goes after them, assuming that she doesn't kill me first… It would be bad, and we still wouldn't be able to be together, I'm still an eight-year-old, for crying out loud, and Kudou Shinichi can't return before they are gone. It wasn't an easy decision, but I have to call her to tell her that I'm not returning for her, and it will take time before I'm able to call her."  
>"I understand," Haibara nodded with a sympathetic smile, "but you're making the right choice. You're sacrificing yourself in order for her to become happy; it's the ultimate sacrifice of love." Conan sighed, his heart was heavy and aching, and it felt like it was trying to turn itself inside out.<br>"What are you whispering about?" Ayumi wondered and stared at Haibara with suspicion.  
>"Nothing. I really like Kichida-san's makeup, don't you?" the shrunken girl stated and diverted the attention.<p>

As the woman selected quite a large number of flowers Mitsuhiko informed them through the detective badge that they finally had reached the shopping mall.  
>"We're on the second floor, hiding by the escalator to the third floor. Kichida-san's in the flower shop," Ayumi answered. The woman paid for the flowers and left the store. She looked at her watch with a frown and glanced around. Conan saw how the boys came running up the escalator and the woman started to walk in their direction.<br>"Oi! Guys! She's coming your way, hide!" Conan called in the badge, uncertain if they'd hear him in the buzz of the people around them.

Conan ran half way up the escalator and saw how Mitsuhiko and Genta awkwardly spoke with Hanako, who smiled and opened the bag she'd just received from the flower shop. Conan walked down the up-going escalator to stay in the same place, much to a few strangers' annoyance. Hanako took out two red roses and offered them to the boys smiling and said something. They nodded blushing and took the roses, said farewell and parted. Hanako looked after them with a pleasant smile and giggled. Conan ran down the escalator just as Genta and Mitsuhiko reached the hiding place.

The boys offered the girls the flowers they'd been given and Conan frowned.  
>"Did you guys tell her that we were following her?" he asked and Genta shook his head.<br>"No, she already knew what we were doing," Mitsuhiko explained sheepishly and scratched his neck, "and told us that we could give a rose each to the girls." Mitsuhiko blushed and squirmed a little while throwing a glance at Haibara, who had her nose buried in the flower and her eyes closed.

As Haibara opened her eyes she found herself studying the young Kudou; he was standing with his eyebrows wrinkled, one hand to his chin and staring down on the ground.  
>"What's wrong Edogawa-kun?" she asked and saw him flick his eyes at her before returning to peer at the ground.<br>"How did she know?" he mumbled, "I'm sure that we remained out of sight the entire time, except at the café and just now. At the café we stayed well hidden, and moments ago I kept my eyes on her the whole time; she never even looked our way, there wasn't even a mirror she could've used to spot us in. Did she assume that we would follow her? In that case; why?"

The kids were quiet as he spoke his thoughts. 'Or maybe, she asked questions and they answered and simply ended up revealing us,' Conan thought. "Do you remember the exact conversation?" he asked and met Mitsuhiko's eyes as the boy nodded.  
>"She said; Well hello there, aren't you Kojima-kun and Tsuburaya-kun from Kobayashi-san's class? We answered yes and she asked if we wanted a rose to give to the girl we likes. We didn't answer but she opened her bag and gave us two roses, and then she said that it's rude to stalk people, but that she didn't mind if we did. She said; better luck next time, and then we said that we're sorry and then we left." Mitsuhiko shrugged.<br>'So she knew... How?' Conan mused and activated the tracking device in the glasses. "Are we going to quit? Or keep going?" he asked smiling and started walking towards the transmitter.

* * *

><p>Kaito walked onto the women's restroom; he'd seen the tracking device of the camera and microphone that Michi was carrying when he was in the café. The thief had pretended to check his makeup with a handheld mirror, which had been modified to show a map of where the camera went. Michi had been following close behind himself, which could only mean that Tantei-kun was in his tracks. His suspicion had been confirmed when he bumped into the two other boys that was part of the Detective Boys.<p>

He went into the middle stall, which was just underneath the air vent and locked the door. There were women putting on their makeup so he couldn't get to it without being seen and he sighed to himself. As he began stripping his clothes of and fold them tightly he noticed a round button underneath his shoes.  
>'When, Tantei-kun? When did you put this on me?' he thought amused and wrapped it up in plastic with a grin. Kaito opened the handbag once more and pulled out a new mask and a school girl uniform which he hastily put on. He reduced his curved body by releasing air from the pads and removed his mask before he pulled the new one over his head, the new one had short boyish hair, and he would look like a tomboy.<p>

All he needed was new shoes, a satchel and to hide the old disguise, which he stuffed into the handbag after removing the two other doves inhabiting it. The magician got up on the toilet seat and peaked over the stall door. He threw a small flash bomb into the farthest corner, and as it exploded and everyone's eyes was drawn to it, he opened the air vent, threw the handbag inside and pulled out the school bag. He placed the grid from the air vent back and dropped down; it all took less than a second. One woman shrieked and another went to investigate what had happened in the corner, but found nothing. During the confusion, Kaito had taken the shoes from the satchel, put them on, placed the flowers inside it and walked out of from the stall. He walked up to the woman who was looking around the corner.  
>"What happened?" he asked worriedly and the woman shrugged confused.<br>"I don't know."

The women got back to what they were doing and he opened the small window at the end. He was grinning like a mad man when he took out one of the doves from his clothing, hiding it from the women with his body.  
>"Chika-chan, want to have some fun?" he mumbled quietly to one of his most mischievous doves, "dispose of this." He held out the transmitter and the dove took it in its beak. "Down to the ground, wait for Tantei-kun, have fun, stay hidden."<p>

He put the dove on the window sill outside the window, closed it and left the restroom. As he spied the children with Tantei-kun, hiding inside a shop waiting for a woman that didn't exist, he cackled like crazy inside his head, only showing a small tug on his lips. When he got onto the escalator he saw how Tantei-kun's eyes widened and he ran into the restroom. Kaito heard the other children call their friend's name as they gave chase.

* * *

><p>Conan saw how the transmitter moved and then stood still.<br>'She must be standing by the wall,' he thought as he calculated the distance between him and the woman. Then suddenly he saw how the transmitter moved away from him, quickly moving downwards and he felt his heart skip a beat. 'She jumped?' his mind roared and he dashed towards the restroom ignoring the children's calls. He entered and ran to the window; it was locked. 'Impossible,' he turned around and leaned against the wall to observe everything; something was going on. A couple of women stared at him, a few threw him an annoyed glance and then ignored him.

'If a woman had jumped through this window, they wouldn't be this calm.'  
>"Boy, this is the women's restroom," a teenager approached him with a condescending smile. He ignored her and ran to look beneath the stalls.<br>"I'm looking for my mom!" he chirped and got to the door. 'She's not in here! That's impossible, a person can't just disappear!" Someone touched his shoulder and he found himself receiving Haibara's irritated glare as he looked up. "I guess mom isn't in here, come on Haibara!" he grabbed her hand and pulled her outside.

"What's going on, Edogawa-kun?" she asked when everyone was gathered.  
>"She's gone-" he cut himself short and stared at the dot from the transmitter.<br>"Eeh?" the Detective Boys said at the same time and he ignored them as he ran down the escalators, through the main floor and passed a certain high school student as he ran out through the door. The transmitter started moving and he gave chase, not noticing the amused grin the high school girl gave him as she looked after the child.

He chased and chased, and after a while he saw how the transmitter went through a building, and that's when he noticed the altitude of which the transmitter was travelling. He ran around the building while observing the altitude, it was changing between 0m, depending on the position of the glasses, and up to 50m above him  
>'A bird,' he thought annoyed and felt shame burning his inside, he should've noticed that sooner, but he was too occupied with the hunt. He panted and allowed himself to lean against the wall, feeling like a complete idiot.<p>

* * *

><p>When the children had caught up to him, after contacting him with the badge, they went towards the badge only to find it lying beside a tree. Conan picked it up; it was wrapped in plastic.<br>'Small indentations probably from a beak,' he reasoned and stared at it. 'Wrapped in plastic, wrapped in plastic,' the words echoed through his mind, 'who the hell was that?' He thought as he felt his eyes widening, his body going cold and his heart beating faster.

"She knew that we were shadowing her, she found the transmitter, put it in plastic and threw it out of the window, and still managed to disappear," Haibara voiced his own thoughts with a hint of worry.  
>"She must have disguised herself, then thrown it out through the window, and left after we ran out. The question is why. Why would she feel the need to hide from a bunch of kids playing detectives?" he mumbled to her as they walked behind the three kids, who had admitted defeat and was now vividly discussing the next Kamen Yaiba episode.<p>

* * *

><p>He was sitting on the couch in the professor's house with his eyes closed. Haibara was in her lab and he was waiting for Agasa to finish fixing his broken watch; his most useful tool. He smelled the aroma of his coffee and allowed himself to sip at the warm liquid. He felt completely at peace, forcing all thoughts out of his head and only concentrating on the delicious black beverage and its fragrance.<br>"If that's what you look like when drinking coffee you're definitely addicted," he opened his eyes and stared disgruntled at Haibara, she had a smug smile on her lips and her eyes were glowing with amusement.

"No," he said with a clear voice and smiled a little at her, "I was addicted, now Ran won't let me have it, so will you let me enjoy this little piece of heaven?" She snorted amused and grinned.  
>"You look ridiculous," she declared as she sat down and blew on her tea. Conan said nothing, not bothering to answer. "Especially with that pink glitter in your hair," she mumbled and gave him a gleeful stare.<br>"Hmm," he grumbled and drank from his coffee, "that's right, I have to find out what KID puts in his glitter; I can't get it out of my hair."

"So that's what happened," she stated with a smile, "you fell into a trap and failed to get him." This time it was Conan's turn to snort.  
>"Hah, I got him," he sipped his coffee and Haibara raised her eyebrow.<br>"You got him?" she asked in a strange way and made Conan look up.  
>"Yes, why? I got him," he said and studied her surprised look.<br>"You got him?" He was starting to get annoyed at her repeating herself. "You got him? And there isn't anything missing?" He frowned; he wasn't seeing where she was going with this. "Tell me," she leered at him, "did you take a look at who he is?" Conan choked on his coffee and spat it out, coughing while Haibara sneered at him, "why didn't you?"

Conan stared at her opening his mouth and closing it a couple of times.  
>"I… Oh my God, I forgot, how could I forget?" he sighed and tugged his hair. "I did get him with the ball, and I could have taken off his hat and monocle," he mumbled and rubbed his face while Haibara studied him with curiosity over her tea cup, "how could I forget?!"<p>

Haibara finished her tea and went into her lab to get a small tray and tweezers and as she got back he was still sitting with his hands over his face, mumbling quietly to himself. She stood beside him and she sighed annoyed as she plucked a bit of glitter from his hair.  
>"Kudou-kun," she said sharply and he jerked his head up to look at her, "feel free to join me in my lab." She handed him the small tray with glitter and went back into her lab.<p>

He sighed as he got out of the shower; a mixture of salt and lemon juice had done the trick. Agasa had repaired the watch while he'd been busy testing the glitter and he'd asked if he could make upgrades. Conan wanted to be able to shoot more than one dart from the watch, which was considered and accepted, however Agasa would only be able to make it shoot one more needle. Haibara had smiled and called dibs on the old watch as soon as the new one was made.

The detective had also asked the same about the dispensable ball belt, which had been dismissed without a seconds thought. Conan grumbled; upgrading the belt would have been great.  
>"How about making an additional, removable power source for the new skateboard, it could be rechargeable and small enough to keep in my pocket, is it possible?" Conan had asked the professor, who frowned in thought and agreed to try.<p>

* * *

><p>As Conan walked out from the professors bathroom his thoughts was drawn to KID. The child smiled; KID had amazing gadgets, which he'd probably made himself and Conan was really impressed, however, he would never tell anyone that. He knew that the KID nowadays was someone else than the one he met as a real child and that a couple of gadgets probably came from him.<p>

The thief was a bit strange; he didn't make much sense, unless he was a bit immature. Forcing inspector Nakamori to wear a pink dress, wig and make up had been a bit too much for Conan's taste, but how KID had managed to get the inspector into the dress in less than a second was absolutely baffling. While he was thinking he went outside and into the sun.  
>'KID, an immature gentleman,' Conan snorted in his head and froze. KID was great at disguising himself and he could change his voice without any device. 'Could it have been KID in the classroom?' Conan allowed himself to lose himself in the memories and started to juggle a football.<p>

The woman had looked at him, but hadn't showed any sign of recognition. Conan bounced the ball on his head. If the woman was KID, then his outfit was outrageous, but KID doesn't do things normal, or in a small way, he was extreme, far beyond insane. Conan smiled amused, he wondered how long it would have taken KID to learn how to walk in that high heels; he'd have to ask, if it really was KID. That would explain how the woman vanished, he changed outfits, how a bird just happened to take the transmitter, he ordered it to, why he hadn't reacted to 'Vermouth' but looked at him strangely.

He blushed, why didn't he think about this sooner? How many people have the ability to disguise that good? His mom, Vermouth, and KID? Conan balanced the ball on top of his head, annoyed, and remembered why he'd dismissed KID. He had dismissed KID because he was male; the woman in the classroom definitely had feminine legs. Conan dropped the ball to the ground as he blushed, realising that everything else fit perfectly, and began kicking the ball at the wall.

Conan was left with two options, either it hadn't been KID, and just some really strange woman, but that left the question about how she disappeared, could she have found the transmitter and he just missed her as she left? Conan nodded to himself as he hit the same spot on the wall; that was certainly a possibility.  
>'Or,' he mused, 'KID has great legs.' Conan spun around from the force of the kick as he missed the ball and made a strangled sound. 'I did <em>not<em> just think that,' Conan felt his ears and face burn as he buried his face in his hands. 'What's wrong with me?' he scolded himself as he dug his hands into his still wet hair and ruffled it.

* * *

><p>AN: Baaroo, short for bakayarou - Idiot


	5. Beware of Danger

A/N: A bit of a jumpy chapter, but I didn't want to erase the small plot bunnies.  
>Review, let me know what you think ;)<p>

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness,<p>

Chapter rating: T  
>Words: 2,600<br>Revised: 2014-09-14

* * *

><p><strong>Chap. 5<br>Beware of Danger**

Conan was on high alert. He'd been feeling watched for about a week; it was draining his energy and he was getting really exhausted. Not only was he feeling watched, but he was always thinking about what and when to tell Ran. The thought of never being able to return to his life, but be forced to live as Edogawa Conan was also starting to wear him down. It was getting harder and harder to sleep because of his constant nightmares about the organisation and attending high school with the kids. Haibara had noticed this and had given him sleeping pills, even Ran had noticed something was wrong with him; if she only knew…

'I can't keep thinking like this,' Conan sighed in his thoughts as he walked beside Haibara; following the kids that wanted to go to the new ice cream shop beside Beika station.  
>"Have you decided when to tell her?" Haibara voiced quietly beside him.<br>"Once I know what to say without telling her the truth, and once I'm prepared enough to calm her down as Conan without blowing my cover," he mumbled silently back, "I told her that I have feelings for her and to wait for me, how am I going to take that back? It wasn't even that long ago that I actually said it." Haibara threw him a glance.  
>"In London, right?" she asked and he nodded.<p>

"Hmm," Haibara frowned in thought, "do you want her to get over you the quickest way, but with the consequences that she'll be furious, and might want to kill you." Conan raised an eyebrow at her almost mute words and waited for her to continue. "Tell her you've found someone else." Conan stared at her; telling Ran something like that would definitely gain her wrath, but he felt a small weight lifted from his heart. Maybe, just maybe she'll get over him quickly, at least then he could try and be happy for her.

"You're right, she'll be furious. You know, that's probably for the best and there's a local karate tournament coming up, the winner will participate in the next city tournament, she could use her anger there," Conan mumbled and searched Haibara's eyes for disapproval. "Hopefully she'll look at me like her brother, and not a small Shinichi-copy to take out her anger on. Is that a good idea, or bad one? I can't really tell," the boy asked cautiously, "I'm not very good with feelings." Haibara heard his added mumble and nodded.  
>"If she'll react that way, then it's a good idea. You should also encourage her to meet others, and discourage her from trying to find you. You should do this very discreetly, otherwise she might think that Kudou instructed you."<p>

The children had bought their ice cream and were eating it quite happily when a surprised voice sounded.  
>"Conan-kun! Are you guys here?" Conan turned around to face Ran and her father. He nodded a greeting and the Detective Boys immediately began pouring questions for the famous detective.<br>"Ran-neechan, what are you doing here?" Conan wondered and ignored Kogoro's undignified laughter.  
>"We're waiting for someone," she winked and smiled a bit secretive.<br>"Who?" he asked but she shook her head.  
>"No, I won't tell you, it's a surprise" she smiled and Conan went through the most probable scenario; her mother, Kisaki Eri.<br>"When will she be here?" he asked but she shook her head again with a smile.  
>"Someone will arrive soon," she smirked.<p>

* * *

><p>Kaito smiled where he sat, today had been a good day so far; the sun was shining brightly, pleasantly warming his body, birds were singing, the wind felt amazing, he had a delicious chocolate ice cream in his hand and no murder had happened. However, it was still early and something could happen at any moment. He'd been stalking Tantei-kun for almost a week, 'investigating' if he used Hakuba's dictionary. It had been an interesting couple of days, and he'd discovered a lot of strange things.<p>

First, foremost and most importantly, the kid was definitely cursed somehow, because wherever he went someone died and then the repulsive detective would spout nonsense until he did a strange dance and sat down. Tantei-kun would during that time hide close by and pop in to help with that creepy false mask of a cheerful child. He wasn't sure if it was an actual act from the sleeping detective's part. Kaito was pretty sure that he'd seen Tantei-kun aim his horrible little watch at him, but that was a strange idea. Kaito knew that the kid was smart and all, but to use another human, a grown-up that way. Then Tantei-kun would speak in his bowtie, and Kaito had decided that he really needed to take a look at that bowtie-thingy.

Another funny fact was that Tantei-kun hated music class, and seemed to hate singing as much as everyone else hated hearing him. After the first initial shock that anybody could actually sound that badly, he'd laughed so hard that he was lying on his bench in his own classroom earning terrified looks from everyone, wondering what they'd missed and even the new teacher had quickly learnt that the charming young man she'd meet the first time didn't exist unless needed.

After a couple of days she'd asked to speak with him, asking questions like 'why he did it' and if he could stop. Maruyama had actually begged him to stop peaking into the girls' locker room and not to prank on her lessons. She had even gone so far as to tell him that it was fine for him to read the newspaper on her lessons as long as he passed the tests. Not that Kaito needed to concentrate much on math; he did much more advanced math while planning a heist or breaking into a safe, so he'd told her that he'd pass the tests with flying colours. Maruyama had looked at him and sighed.  
>"I know you will; I've seen your test results, but there are others in the class that don't have it as easy as you." He felt really bad afterwards; he was smart, so why hadn't he thought of that?<p>

Kaito had calmed it down after the talk, only practicing sleight of hand on the lessons and only pulling pranks at the breaks. His change had drawn Hakuba's attention, but he didn't mind, his behaviour didn't have anything to do with KID this time. The class had been fascinated by his changed behaviour; the new teacher had actually managed to tame the wild magician, but that didn't change him from being a huge distraction to the other students. Kaito were performing his magic tricks by his desk, making things appear and disappear just as quickly, cards were shuffled, spread out and then suddenly gone. Small, completely mute puffs of smoke emerged and he was holding a rose, another puff and the rose had changed colour.

The magician didn't seem to concentrate on his tricks at all, he seemed to be doing it absentmindedly like normal people would tap their fingers against a surface or bite on their pen. The teacher was equally as fascinated as the rest of the class. Every morning the magician had brought a pink rose and an apple for her which made her wonder about the boy, what was he playing at? She studied him for a while and saw that he only read the pages of the math book, when he wasn't reading the newspaper. The magician never wrote anything down, was he really that good? Could _anyone_ be that good?

The prankster had caused a minor distraction in class; he dropped a deck of cards on the floor while reading a thick book. The teen was frowning and staring at the text, while a dove flew out from underneath his shirt and picked up the cards. Maruyama had taken a look at the book while the class was distracted by him, and she had been stunned; the prankster was reading a physics book that was even too advanced for her, and he wasn't even using a calculator, just reading it and doing the calculations in his head, or was he just looking at the equations?

"Kuroba-kun," the teacher said as he was about to leave for chemistry class.  
>"Yes, Maruyama-sensei. I'm sorry; I became a disturbance, didn't I?" Kaito asked a bit sheepishly; he was ashamed that he'd actually dropped a deck of cards.<br>"That book you were reading, do you understand it?" she wondered curiously and threw a glance at the magician's bag.  
>"Yes," he answered before he could stop himself, "I was just researching something." The thief answered a bit avoiding; it wasn't like he could tell her that he wanted a better grappling hook for his night time business. The current grappling hook that his father had left him was the size of a rocket launcher and he wanted to be able to carry it with him.<p>

Kaito had learnt a new trick that he loved, it was a beautiful trick where he made what looked like burning butterflies soar through his room; it was the same trick that his father had shown him once, and he decided to use it as a good bye to Maruyama-sensei, after the month was over. There was still a scorch mark left on the carpet from when he didn't quite succeed, but he was proud that he finally figured it out.

* * *

><p>The thief's eyes were drawn to the group of kids that were speaking with the two arrivals. Mouri-chan and Mouri-san, and he turned up the volume on his earpiece.<br>'Boring!' his mind informed him as he listened to the conversation between Mouri-chan and Tantei-kun, 'very borin-.' His mind haltered as Tantei-kun's eyes swept the area; it was horrible how fast that child could feel his presence. The only time he wasn't looking in the thief's general direction was when he sat on a roof top or something similar, very, _very_ far away.

It was annoying, and he had to change disguises all the time as Tantei-kun otherwise would send a horrible ball his way, which the kid had done once, when the Detective Boys were playing baseball. Kaito had barely been able to dodge the small ball that Tantei-kun kicked at him, and he was happy that he had because the baseball had been lodged into a tree, smoking. Kaito then ran away as fast as he could and didn't return that day.

Kaito yawned and turned page in the newspaper that was in front of him, not really reading it as he was observing the group of people that took a seat not too far from him. Mouri-chan was looking at her watch from time to time and Tantei-kun was silently speaking with the strangely cold and distant girl. The thief was annoyed; they were whispering and he couldn't hear them. They were always whispering and at first he thought that the Haibara-girl was Tantei-kun's crush, but he discarded that when he saw how they acted together. At least he found out who the maniac who gave Tantei-kun his awful gadgets was, and KID wasn't pleased when he heard that an upgrade had been made on the watch, not pleased at all.

Another page was turned and he felt like going home; the thief already had a perfect revenge planed and his fingers were itching, he wanted to prank them so badly. A smoke bomb and a change of hair colour would be lovely; Tantei-kun in pink, The Haibara-girl in green, Genta-kun and Mitsuhiko-kun both in yellow, Mouri-chan in blue, Mouri-san in red and Ayumi-chan also in pink just to annoy Tantei-kun. Yes, that would be lovely.  
>"How's the upgrade on the skateboard coming?" Kaito heard a voice in his earpiece and he concentrated on it as his eyes followed the lines in the paper; upgrades were always bad for thieves.<br>"Agasa-hakase has made another skateboard, but he didn't manage to put in an external power source, so you're still left with sun power and thirty minutes after dark," the Haibara-girl answered and licked her ice cream.

"Do you feel watched?" Tantei-kun asked her and glanced around again.  
>"No. I am paranoid, but you are getting even worse than me. You're probably just exhausted because of lack of sleep," Kaito mentally frowned; their conversations were always weird if not whispered.<br>"Yo, Kudou!" the call was heard loudly and Kaito looked up from the papers; it was Tantei-han who had arrived followed by a girl. The child waved his arms in a panicked manner and Kaito frowned again, what was going on?  
>"Ah! I-, I meant Ku-ku-Conan-kun," the Osakan detective said and crouched down. Tantei-kun was swearing quietly at him, but the teenager only said 'sorry' and looked a bit sheepish.<p>

"There! Ahou, ya' did it again! Why do ya' keep calling Conan-kun Kudou?" the girl, with her hair tied in a ponytail, said loudly.  
>"Well, he's related to tha guy, and he looks just like 'im," Tantei-han said awkwardly and laughed a little, while receiving very angry glares from the child in question.<br>"Oi oi, Heiji-niichan," the boy chirped only loud enough so that Tantei-han could hear him, not counting stalking phantom thieves. "If you keep calling me Kudou, I'll just have to turn my shoes up to maximum power and take off your legs," Kaito shivered, that kid was creeping him out; he sounded so happy and innocent while saying something like that. 'Horrible kid'

"Or, how about a football shoved up your behind, Hattori." Tantei-kun's voice had changed, he spoke calmly and sounded much more mature, although very annoyed. Kaito felt his face stiffen into a poker face, he wanted to laugh, but he lifted up the newspaper from the table and grinned as soon as it covered his face; now that was the Tantei-kun he knew.  
>'He's pretending to be little with certain people but old with others, or has he some kind of personality disorder? That'd be really interesting,' Kaito mused as he folded the paper and started to follow the group which was leaving, all thoughts of going home vanished.<p>

Kaito decided to follow them closer than he'd ever dared to before and as soon as Tantei-kun turned around or slightly threw a glance over his shoulder the thief would change disguise; glad that he'd prepared many different faces and clothes. The only thing he didn't change was his shoes, but he switched their colours. Kaito listened as the kids talked with Tantei-han and as he explained police procedures and bragged about cases he'd solved, things were starting to get boring again. The thief switched outfit just before he followed the group onto a large bridge.

'This can be dangerous,' the thief mused and thought of all the ways people could be killed on bridges. His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a man grabbing him with a growl; it wasn't as much grabbing him as hugging him was more accurate. The thief panicked and escaped the man's grip, only to find himself covered in blood. He was looking down on his hands and chest, concealed by it and he trembled.

'This is bad,' he thought as someone screamed. His throat was dry so he didn't believe it was him, but he couldn't be sure, because the sweet metallic scent of the blood made him nauseous and unable to think. Despite the sunlight that only recently warmed him he felt colder than he'd ever felt. His brain was blank and the only thing he could see was the blood on his hands gleaming red in the brilliance of the sun. He wasn't even aware that he'd been slowly backing away from the dying man until his back hit against the railing of the bridge. The thief threw a glance on the water far beneath him, should he flee?

* * *

><p>Pink rose, dark – Thank you<p> 


	6. Thieves and Murderers

A/N: I have no idea what accent Hattori is talking in...  
>English is my second language so I just changed it like this: You-Ya, And-An', Him-'im, the-tha<br>Review, let me know what you think ;)

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness,<p>

Chapter rating: T  
>Words: 3,300<br>Revised: 2014-09-14

* * *

><p><strong>Chap. 6<br>Thieves and Murderers **

Everyone in the group stopped as a scream echoed across the bridge. When the detectives turned around they saw how a middle-aged man, lying on his back, took his last breath; not even ten meters from them. A young man was slowly backing away from the body with a chocked expression on his face; he was trembling badly and staring at his hands that were covered in blood. Hattori ran towards the man that threw a glance over his shoulder into the river below and Conan was quickly beside the dead man, examining the body.

The man's clothes were black, so the blood wouldn't have been easy to spot compared with a white shirt.  
>'Cause of death is most likely the stab wound to the chest, probably aimed at his heart, ' Conan pondered as Kogoro reached the body, "uncle, get them to stop all traffic and call the police, no one can leave." Ran pulled out her phone to call while Kogoro ran to the end of the bridge and Conan glanced up at Hattori who didn't seem to get in contact with the man by the railing.<p>

* * *

><p>Kaito remembered the heat of fire as he slowly awakened; gray smoke was covering his eyes and made them tear up. His entire body was aching, he could barely breath and he coughed dryly.<br>"Kaito," a whisper from a man was heard. The sound of the weak voice was cutting through to him despite the noises of the raging fire; it was something melancholy about it and it made his heart twist in pain. "Kaito," the voice spoke again and the man coughed painfully, "wake up." Kaito tried to move and winced; his entire body felt like a bruise. What had happened to him?  
>"Dad?" he mumbled.<br>"Kaito, Kaito, you must wake up," the man whispered quickly; he voice was sorrowful and distressed, "wake, please." Kaito turned his head, and that's when he noticed that the floor he was lying on was wet and had a metallic taste.  
>"Dad?" his voice was weak as he looked up on the man sitting beside him, leaning against the wall.<p>

"Kaito," Toichi smiled sadly at him and coughed with a pained face; not even his sharpened poker face could keep him from showing the agony he was in. Kaito's eyes widened, the man, his father, was pierced through his stomach by a beam. "Get out of here," he whispered and Kaito trembled.  
>"No, dad," Kaito breathed and stared at the beam; he was old enough to know and understand that his father was dying and his eyes swam over. "Dad! No! You, you," Kaito was gently hushed by the man.<br>"Get out of here! Please, do it for me," Toichi begged, "please get out." Kaito shook his head, the room was warm and full of smoke; he could hear the crackling of fire but he couldn't see it. His father's attention was drawn to something else. "Get him out of here," whoever Toichi was talking to picked him up and the boy noticed several human shapes in the thick smoke, firemen. It wasn't until he was outside, in the light of the setting sun that he realised that he was gleaming in the colour of red; he had been lying in his father's the blood.

* * *

><p>Kaito ignored Tantei-han's tries to speak with him in order to keep staring at his hands; his brain had stopped working and refused to reboot itself. He knew that he couldn't say anything, why he was there, what his name was, where he lived, not until his brain functioned again.<br>"Oi! Ya'! Snap out of it!" Tantei-han roared at him and grabbed him; instincts kicked in and he stared into the eyes of the detective. The thief tried to get out of his grip but only ended up smearing the blood on the detective. "Calm down," Kaito heard Tantei-han's voice say over and over again until he found himself breathing deeply and looking towards the ground.

"What's yer name?" Kaito remained unresponsive, he'd opened his mouth to answer and had been close to reply Kuroba Kaito, but he couldn't, so he was quiet.  
>"I-, I-," Kaito didn't know what to say; despite his brains surrender he knew it looked bad. "I," he knew he needed to defend himself and he swallowed. The thief became painfully aware of the blood on his arms and on the chest of his sleeveless shirt and his hands swept through the buttons with inhuman speed. He tried to take it off but Tantei-han's hands were still latched into his upper arms. "Take it off," the words was said in a quick breath and he realised with a morbid fascination that he was panicking.<p>

Kaito was allowed to tear of his shirt, and ended up in a green t-shirt, trying to wipe away the blood that was on his arms with the already stained piece of clothing.'  
>"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have struggled like that," Kaito mumbled and sat down on the pavement while Tantei-han crouched beside him. "I didn't do it, I didn't kill him," the thief quickly added, still not looking at the detective.<br>"I know," Tantei-han's voice said and Kaito stared at him.  
>"How?" he asked and the detective smiled.<br>"Ya' don't have tha murder weapon, an' if ya' were tha murderer, ya' wouldn't have had enough time to dispose of it," Tantei-han shrugged and Kaito felt relieved.  
>"Oh, that, makes sense," he said, still panicking on the inside; his brain refused to reboot.<p>

Heiji studied the man, he looked a bit detached, but it was better than the struggling.  
>"What's yer name?" he asked again but the man seemed to have gone back into staring on the ground.<br>"Water, do you have water?" he mumbled and held up his bloodstained arms and hands. The teen understood that he wanted to clean up, but he didn't want to leave the man's side in case he really was the murderer.

"Here you go niichan," Conan smiled at Kaito, who blinked and took the bottle, all senses seemed to come back and his brain had finally recovered from the shock of suddenly being covered in blood.  
>"Uh, thanks," he smiled slightly and started to clean of his arms; he noticed that the child informed the older detective about his own findings.<br>"What's yer' name?" Kaito heard Tantei-han ask him again and he decided to act like ha was still a bit out of it.

The man looked up at Hattori, he seemed to have somewhat recovered.  
>"Eh," the man stared at him for a while. "Hattori, Heiji?" he slowly said and Hattori raised an eyebrow, "Detective of the West, if I'm not wrong." Hattori nodded.<br>"Yes, that's me." The strange man threw a glance at Conan.  
>"I'm Gawaco Edonan, you can call me Edo-san, it's a pleasure to meet you, Hattori-san." Conan frowned; something was weird about that name.<br>"Your name sounds strange!" Conan said in a childlike manner.  
>"My grandfather was Russian, and my mother was therefore half Japanese," the man explained. "And what might your name be, boy?" Kaito asked and looked down on the boy.<br>"My name's Edogawa Conan!" the child said smiling and Tantei-han left to speak with inspector Megure who just arrived.

Kaito watched Tantei-kun out of the corner of his eyes; the child was studying him intensely and the thief tried to ignore the child's powerful stare that made him want to break out in cold sweat. He worriedly observed how the child kept fingering on his watch and tried to calm himself down. He closed his eyes and concentrated on his breathing; he felt his body slowly relax and opened his eyes. The kid stared curiously at him.  
>"You must've been at a lot of crime scenes, haven't you?" Tantei-kun nodded but said nothing. "How do you know Hattori-san? Are you related in some way?"<p>

Tantei-kun seemed to finally relax as he lowered his watch.  
>"We're just friends, Heiji-niichan solves cases together with uncle Kogoro," the child answered and he nodded. Kaito turned his gaze to the crime scene where Tantei-han was nowhere to be seen; as long as Tantei-han and Tantei-kun was there he had nothing to fear about the murder. However, he was a bit concerned about them finding out that he was KID, and he didn't like that watch.<p>

"The murderer is obviously you!" a loud voice declared nearby and the thief looked up. Mouri-san was pointing at him and Kaito looked around; where was that Detective of the West when you needed him?  
>"No, you're wrong," he answered loudly but was ignored, as the detective started to rant something about borrowing money and not being able to pay, the thief felt himself panic on instinct.<br>'Calm down, this is what usually happens, remember what you've seen through the binoculars,' Kaito calmed himself and got up from the road, he threw a glance at the kid; he wasn't aiming his watch at the detective.

"You idiot!" Kaito roared at Kogoro, finally shutting him up. The thief saw, out of the corner of his eyes, that Tantei-kun had rewarded him with a smile and the ranting detective looked a bit stunned. "I didn't even know that man! I don't hurt people!" Kaito was calm of the inside, knowing that his detectives would figure out the truth, but he still needed to act like he was falsely accused. "Geez, Tantei-baka," he mumbled annoyed and the child threw him a suspicious glance.

Kogoro went on his usual rant, jumping from suspect to suspect and came back to the conclusion that it was the thief. Kaito yelled back in the same manner, but was beginning to get a bit worried; wasn't Tantei-kun going to put him to sleep? He kept an eye on the child who was talking with Tantei-han, and then he saw it. Tantei-han stood up and Tantei-kun hid behind him, aiming the watch at the annoying detective.  
>'Tantei-han's in on it,' Kaito thought fascinated as the child fired and Tantei-baka made that funny dance. The thief was determined not to miss anything; this was the first time he'd been close enough to the crime scene to study it.<p>

The boy took out something from his pocket as the Sleeping Detective sat down.  
>"Uncle," he chirped and ran up to him, "did you finally figure it out?" Tantei-kun touched the collar of the detective and then hid his mouth behind his hands.<br>"Yes, now go away," the old man's voice said and Kaito narrowed his eyes, he was pretty sure that Tantei-kun was holding his bowtie-thingy underneath his hands.  
>"Okay!" he chirped as he ran away to hide behind Tantei-han.<br>"Yes," it sounded like the detective cleared his throat, "I accused the young man because I wanted to see the real killer's expression when I did."

Kaito backed away from the detective; he was shaping an angry expression on his face, but he just wanted a better view of Tantei-kun, and he could see from the corner of his eyes that Tantei-kun threw him another suspicious glance.  
>'Yes indeed,' Kaito thought when he saw how the child mouthed the same words that seemed to come from Tantei-baka, 'he really puts him to sleep, the nerve, it's actually Tantei-kun who solves the cases, but no one would listen to a child so he got the crazy professor to make him gadgets.' Kaito tuned out the detective's words for his own musings. 'The tranquilizer watch to put him to sleep. The shoes and belt to take down criminals because he's a child, but has an incredible aim, a perfect weapon for a football freak. The bowtie-thingy must be some kind of voice-changer, and he must have put some kind of speaker on the collar,' Kaito thought as he followed the happenings around him.<p>

'The professor is crazy to allow a kid to chase criminals; he could get hurt, and what's Tantei-han's problem. He, if someone, should know that a crime scene is not a place for a kid, no matter how smart the kid might be.' The thief saw how the kid in question knocked at Tantei-han's leg and Tantei-han took over with the deduction. 'They're working together,' Kaito smiled as the real criminal was pointed out, but then everything seemed to go wrong.

The criminal, a middle-aged man, darted around and towards the crowd of onlookers. He was much faster than anyone had expected, not even the thief had enough time to react. Tantei-han yelled as the man grabbed a child and held what looked like a pen against her throat. Kaito immediately recognised her as the child from Tantei-kun's class.  
>"Ayumi!" Tantei-kun yelled, confirming Kaito's suspicions and he was torn, he wanted to help but that could endanger her further.<p>

He felt angry, real anger, a fierce sensation that was scorching him from the inside. A feeling he never felt as long as he didn't think of his father's murder. It was the same, the murdered man had a daughter and a wife and they were left alone, just like he'd been all those years ago. Kaito gritted his teeth and he felt his nails digging into his palms. His brain worked up a lot of workable scenarios in the matter of seconds, despite the rage that threatened to take over.

"Get away! Or I'll kill her!" the man howled and Tantei-han was forced to back away with everyone else. "I'm getting into a car with her! And if anyone tries to stop me I'll kill her!" Kaito felt his anger fill his body, and as soon as the man was near the car he allowed his face to fall back to his signature KID-grin.  
>"Showtime," Kaito flicked his wrist causing smoke bombs to fly sky high and rain down all around them, and smoke erupted as soon as they touched the ground. He'd used almost all of the smoke bombs he was carrying, dropping so many was stupid, but he needed to be sure that the entire place was covered for more than a minute. He changed into his KID outfit and pulled out the card gun.<p>

The man cried out in pain as he was shot in the hand with a card and the thief took the young girl into his arms.  
>"You are safe now, Ojou-san," he mumbled as he with movements faster than a normal human tied the man up and jumped on top of the car that the man had been moving towards.<br>"Who are you?" she asked as she held into her savour, still blinded by the smoke and he smiled, all anger melted away. He'd tied up the man extremely hard with fishing line and it wouldn't surprise him if it dug into the man's wrists. The thief had then wrapped him up in multiple layers of duct tape on top of the fishing line so the man looked like a badly wrapped silver mummy, unable to move or make more than muffled sounds.

"I am nothing more than a friendly neighbourhood thief, little Ojou-san," he said as the smoke slowly cleared and revealed KID standing on a car, with the girl in his arms and the man on the ground.  
>"Kaitou KID!" people gasped and cheered when they saw him with the unharmed child.<br>"KID?" The thief threw the detectives a glance and gave them a smile. KID cleared his throat and the crowd went silent.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he said in a loud voice, "detectives," he tipped his hat at Hattori and Conan. "I am afraid that I might have damaged him a bit," KID pointed to the man lying completely still on the ground. "He's alive, and will be fine... But I am, after all, only human," the thief said theatrically and grinned like he didn't think of himself as a human, but like he thought it was funny to compare himself with one.  
>"Kaitou KID-san is the best," Ayumi said and threw her arms around the thief's neck to hug him. "Thank you!" she said it loud enough for the people who were standing closest to them to hear and go; "aww."<p>

The crowd were silent as KID swiftly jumped down from the car and walked towards the detectives. The thief crouched down to put the girl on the ground and made a red rose appear.  
>"Little Ojou-san, a crime scene is not a place for a young girl," Ayumi took the rose and nodded.<br>"I know," she said KID smiled at her.  
>"There are too many bad people out there," he brushed a lock of hair from her face and got up from the ground.<p>

"So…" he said as he turned to Hattori, "are you going to arrest me?" KID asked mockingly and held his wrists up, grinning like he was having the laugh of his life.  
>"How can we?" Hattori frowned and threw a glance at the audience, which didn't seem to approve of such actions against the thief. The audience looked like they would attack them if they tried. "Ya're just a thief! But today ya' saved a girl. An' even if we did cuff ya', ya'd just have a blast an' escape." The thief nodded.<br>"True, true." KID smiled and bowed. "Well, then I'll be taking my leave," he said and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Conan sighed and shook his head; KID had helped them out, he'd saved Ayumi and then he was gone, like nothing happened. Inspector Megure collected testimonies and the man who'd panicked earlier had calmed down and told them what had happened. He still thought something was strange with Edo-san as they were allowed to leave. When the man left his contact information Conan copied it. The phone number and address somehow felt familiar, but he was hungry and decided to think about it later.

* * *

><p>"Oi, Hattori," Conan mumbled as they received their food at the restaurant, "did you notice anything strange with that man, Edo-san?" The teenage detective shook his head.<br>"No, not really... He was way stronger than he looked, an' fast." Hattori started to eat and continued to compare the food in Tokyo to the one in Osaka, while Conan not really listened.  
>"What was his name again?" Hattori muttered after he was done complaining over his food, "it was something weird... Edonan... Gawaco?" Conan wrote down the man's name and frowned; he still thought his name was familiar.<p>

Conan pulled up his phone, dialled the digits and stared at them for a while.  
>'Call Hattori Heiji.' The words popped up on his phone, he frowned and erased the number. He searched under contacts and found his Osakan counterpart. Conan stared at the numbers in his phone and the ones in his notepad.<br>"Oi, Hattori," the child interrupted the teenager's speech about food in a thoughtful voice, "take a look at this number and address." Conan handed the small book to the teen.  
>"Yea, so? It's my number an' address," the detective said after a glance and gave him back his book, which made the child laugh.<p>

"Hattori, this is the contact information that Edo-guy gave," Conan laughed and Hattori stared at him.  
>"Are ya' serious?" he asked and Conan nodded.<br>"Guess where 'Gawaco Edonan' comes from? It's no wonder I recognised it," Conan was chuckling and Hattori huffed.  
>"Gawa-co Edo-nan, Edo-gawa Co-nan," Hattori snorted, "that's a bad one, I think he's losing 'is touch... I wonder if he really freaked out by tha blood, or if he faked it so he wouldn't have to talk first."<p>

Conan shrugged, "Who knows, he's a good actor, but from the way he was staring at his hands in the beginning I'd say he panicked. He's a quick-thinker at heists, which means the question should be; _When_ did he start faking it, because the KID that was standing in the middle of the crowd was not having a nervous breakdown," Conan smiled up at Hattori when he noticed that Ran was staring at him. "That's what you said, right? Heiji-niichan!" Conan said in the sweetest child's voice he could bear, and earned a fond look from Ran.

* * *

><p>Thank you all for your nice reviews, they really are a heart warmer!<p> 


	7. The Revenge of a KID

A/N: This chapter is dedicated to starsinjars, who inspired me and got me to write this story in the first place :D

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

Chapter rating: K+  
>Words: 3,900<br>Revised: 2014-09-14

* * *

><p><strong>Chap. 7<br>The Revenge of a KID**

Kaito sat at the café, drinking a cup of tea as he waited, and checked his watch from time to time since he at ten minutes past twelve he had an appointment. The watched showed fifteen minutes past twelve, which meant that she was running late. He'd already had a couple of men hit on him, but they left when he showed them his wedding ring and after threatening the more persistent ones with a lawsuit. The bell above the door rang out and he smiled fondly; finally she had arrived, it was Showtime.

"I am so sorry, Hanako-chan, I've made you wait," the person named Kobayashi Sumiko bowed for him and he giggled.  
>"It's no trouble at all, Sumiko-chan," Kaito smiled in a feminine voice as he waved his hand nonchalantly and got up from his seat. "Just look at what my husband sent me from Paris!" he squealed and slowly spun around to show off his 'new' dress from Paris.<br>"Oh my! It's beautiful!" Sumiko said equally excited over the dress. They got back into their seats, ordered lunch and drifted over to more interesting topics, like family situations; Kobayashi Sumiko had a special someone, however, not yet boyfriend, that the thief knew, namely the former leader of the Sato-Takagi-investigation team, Shiratori Ninzaburo. The thief was always amused by the ongoing struggle in the 1st Division; it was almost as amusing as annoying Nakamori in the 3rd Division.

Kaito smiled when she told him about her love for the police officer; it was kind of cute, and good to know. He drifted the conversation precisely where he wanted it and they ended up 'accidently' running out of time. Sumiko needed to get back to class so Kaito, the gentleman he was, offered to walk with her and asked her about which class she would be teaching.  
>"Oh, we're having music class in a moment," she answered delightfully, what Kaito already knew.<p>

"Oh! How fun! I used to love my music classes, just because of our teacher, and I continued to sing all the way through high school!" Kaito lied, knowing that the kids were going to have choral practise, since the classes would be competing just before Christmas.  
>"You did? Do you know a lot about it?" He smiled at her question and nodded; knowing that she'd love to have a helping hand.<br>"I don't know a lot about instruments though. I can play a little on the piano and on the flute, but what I know most about is vocal training." Kaito got himself an invitation that he excitedly accepted, which meant that he had free access to the school for one day. 'Now, Tantei-kun,' he cackled in his head, 'now you shall suffer!'

* * *

><p>Conan slowly made his way to music class. He hated it; everyone always looked at him like he was some kind of disgusting bug that was so foul that they didn't even want to step on it. They just wanted to run away and never come back. He knew that he was a bad singer, but <em>come on<em>, it can't be that bad, can it? Not only had he already gone through the torture once, but now he had to do it all over again!

As he opened the door he became confused, in the classroom together with Kobayashi-sensei stood none other than the woman who disappeared, Kichida Hanako.  
>"Well hello there, Edogawa-kun, you're just in time," she beamed at him and he gaped.<br>"Hah? He-hello, Kichida-san?" he walked into the room eyeing her; why would she even be there?  
>Haibara threw him an 'I told you so'-glance as he walked over to the others in the class.<br>"You all remember Kichida Hanako, who came to say hello, a little more than a week ago?" Kobayashi asked and the class answered in confirmation.

"She's a friend of mine, she used to sing a lot in high school and helped others with vocal training," Kobayashi declared and Conan felt himself go cold; he was the worst in the class, he would probably be one of the unfortunate who had to endure that torture. He swallowed nervously; he didn't want this, what had he done to deserve it?  
>"Vocal training? That's when you learn how to sing, right?" Ayumi asked while waving her hand in the air.<br>"Yes, among other things. You learn how to use your voice," Kichida answered with a mysterious smile as she looked over the class.

Kaito cackled like crazy inside his head; Tantei-kun was looking like he was going to die of horror, this had been a great idea.  
>"Shall we sing the song you'll be competing with, and once you've finished I'm going to tell you what you can do to make it better," the cross dresser beamed at the children, "don't worry I'll be nice to you all, and remember! You are one, not one individual, but a group, one cannot sing like you are alone, you have to listen for the others, become one with the group." Kaito smiled and showed for the teacher to start playing.<p>

Conan mimed; he refused to sing, he would never sing with that crazy eccentric woman close by. At least he knew it wasn't KID, Kobayashi wouldn't know KID from high school. He was observing the woman studying them and he got a sense of familiarity, like he'd seen that expression somewhere before. The way Kichida was moving, like a cat sneaking up on its unknowing prey, the thin narrowing of her eyes, brown in colour, but oh so observant, the slight tilt of her head as she analysed something.

Those eyes hit him and he froze; something was definitely going on, he stood there gaping at her, no longer mimicking the text. Kichida tilted her head, not showing anything other than that friendly smile and changed her weight from one foot to the other. She moved on to listen to the other children in the choir and Haibara elbowed him with a smug grin.  
>"Are you sure you didn't just follow her because you found her captivating?" Conan gave her a grumpy look and huffed at her question.<br>"Of course not."

The song ended and Conan was impressed; Kichida was not only nice and considerate when she talked to the kids, but she was so loving as she told them how they could practise their voice and if they should use more or less force as they sang.  
>"Kichida-san!" Haibara raised her hand after sending him an amused grin. "Edogawa-kun didn't sing!" Conan froze and felt like the whole world broke; the evil-eyed devil's spawn had ratted him out.<br>"Mou... Conan-kun! You have to sing, otherwise Kichida-san can't help you!" Ayumi complained and Mitsuhiko nodded in agreement.  
>"You're the one who ruins it for everyone! You make us all look bad!" Genta roared as he pointed to him and got agreeing mumbles among the others. Conan slouched and sighed.<br>'Okay, it will be over soon,' he thought as he walked over to Kichida, 'just like a band aid.'

"I can't sing," he settled and stared her directly in her eyes.  
>"That's okay, do you wish to learn?" to his confusion she smiled at him and he shrugged.<br>"I guess," he mumbled; it wasn't like he had a choice, if he had, then he wouldn't be there.  
>"So you can absolutely not sing?" she asked him as she walked over to the piano and he shook his head. "Try taking this note," she said and Conan felt his eye twitch; that he could do, he had perfect pitch after all, he just couldn't sing. He took the exact same note as the piano made, they did this with a couple of notes before Conan huffed.<p>

"I have perfect pitch," he snorted and crossed his arms.  
>"So do I," Kichida hummed gently, "but perfect pitch is useless if you don't have relative pitch, which you don't. However that is something you can train, if you want to." Kichida's words were calm and full of warmth.<br>"What?" Conan blinked at the woman, "but I'm tone-deaf!" Kichida shook her head, still smiling.  
>"No, you have perfect pitch, which means that you can distinguish between the different frequencies, making it impossible for you to be completely tone-deaf, all you lack is relative pitch." Conan only gaped at the woman; he was tone-deaf, at least that's what everyone kept telling him.<p>

"We'll get back to you later," she said and went to speak with the others, praising everyone despite tweaking their singing technique. In the end as they sang, Conan couldn't help but think that they sounded quite good, for a bunch of kids. Kichida walked in front of them, making eye-contact with the ones that sang to loudly and moved her hands to show that they should be quieter. She encouraged the ones who barely made a sound and smiled as they sang the last verse.

"That sounded great!" Ayumi and some other children called out while the class started to murmur excitedly by the positive change.  
>"But we still have Conan to deal with!" Genta claimed and everyone's eyes were turned to the mini detective.<br>"Yes, we have a chance of winning as long as Conan-kun doesn't sing," Mitsuhiko agreed and many heads in the class nodded. Conan squirmed uncomfortably; this was what he'd feared and he looked to Kichida's gentle smile.

"Well, all you have to do is train, come here and I'll show you," she smiled and he walked up to the piano. "You can take all notes perfectly, the only problem is putting them together," Kobayashi got up from the seat by the piano and Kichida took her place. "You begin training by taking one note and then changing to the next, and ignore all that 'do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti'-stuff, just concentrate on the note, no letters, only the sound," she said and petted the seat beside herself, showing that he should sit.

The woman sang one note and changed to the next, and the next after that. She smiled at him, and he sighed. Conan could take the first note but was unable to change to the next. He frowned and tried again; no change. He made a slight pause before taking the next note and he was able to do it.  
>"Try to use your voice to find the next note," now Kichida was smiling even brighter and Conan tried, he could hear when he passed it but wasn't able to stop at it. "Precisely!" Kichida beamed and he smiled a little; could he really learn how to sing?<p>

* * *

><p>As he bell rang he felt like his stomach was trying to turn itself outside in; he'd gotten extra music classes! Like one every week wasn't enough, now he had one hour music after school <em>every day<em>, together with Kobayashi and Ayumi, who just wanted to help. He groaned inwardly, even though it would've been fun if he had learnt how to sing the last time he'd been a kid; then he would've been able to go to karaoke with Ran, Sonoko and his former teenage friends. They never wanted him there; not that he blamed them, not even Shinichi would've wanted himself there. But the price was too high, one hour after school, every day, until he could sing. Conan knew he had bad luck, but this! This must've been orchestrated by the devil! He was sulking and sighing as he walked to P.E class, which used to be his last lesson for the day.

Kaito was having a great time; Tantei-kun had looked like he wanted to hide under a rock as he convinced Sumiko to stay after school and teach the child. It was cute how the little girl with her pink hair band had promised to help him and Kaito had half-expected the others from the Detective Boys to join in just because of her, but it seemed like they shivered by the thought and didn't love the girl enough to go through _that_ suffering.  
>'Next up, P.E,' Kaito grinned; he'd changed the sport's schedule. Now it was going to be football practice and the thief had a fun little scheme; nothing too serious, just enough to make the genius child scratch his head.<p>

The child smiled as the teacher brought out footballs; he knew it should have been basket, but why tell him and change to something less fun? Conan's day became a lot better when he was allowed to juggle the ball and he repressed the horrendous music classes to the back of his mind. The detective shot the ball at a tree, his smile vanished and he frowned.  
>'I missed?' he thought and ran to get the ball. Conan became more and more puzzled; the ball went askew and he missed. Everyone was baffled; everyone knew that the team who got Conan always won, but now something was wrong and Conan couldn't even get the ball in the goal, yet make a good pass to anyone.<p>

'What's going on?' Conan was stunned; he'd never played that badly. He left the field and tried to juggle another ball; he couldn't even do that, he missed and it fell to the ground. Laughter close by made him look up with a scowl. Haibara was covering her mouth with her hands and laughing at him.  
>"What? You can do it better?" he bit back and she shook her head, still laughing. She took a couple of deep breaths and smiled at him.<br>"Someone special got your attention?" she leered at him knowingly.  
>"No, for the hundredth time," he snarled at her, "I do not like Kichida Hanako!" Haibara just kept smiling at him and he gave up on trying to use the ball. Annoyed he kicked his empty bottle of water, it flew in a straight line exactly how he'd expected it to, and the child frowned. 'What the hell?'<p>

* * *

><p>Conan opened the door to the living area above the agency with a sigh and a loud, "I'm home!" He was completely exhausted from the music class. He'd realised that the classes were okay if there were more than one other person attending, then he could at least hide in the crowd, now he was forced to endure the torture of his own voice while looking at the forced smile of Kobayashi and Ayumi's horror stricken face as she was holding her hands over her ears.<br>'Wonder how long a suspect could endure,' he thought with a huff as he went into the shared bedroom, 'what a ridiculous thought, singing in the interrogation room, wonder what Gin would do.'

Conan snickered as he dumped the bag in the corner of the room, and imagined Gin with his hands over his ears and having the same expression as Ayumi had had.  
>"Had a fun day at school, Tantei-kun?" Conan spun around and gaped; KID was sitting in the window.<br>"I expected you an hour ago," the thief grinned and tilted his head.  
>"You could say that I got detention," Conan huffed and stared at him.<br>"Ooh~," the thief sang and kept the same expression, but Conan could tell that he was amused. "I always took you for a something like... A model student," KID's grin widened, "what did you do?"

The child huffed and pulled out the desk chair from the corner; he would humour the thief and talk.  
>"Nothing," he answered as he got up on the chair, now facing the intruder, "I can't sing." KID snickered; he was prepared to jump out of the window if needed to.<br>"You got detention, because you can't sing," the intruder tilted his head, "that's weird." Conan nodded and smiled; the thief was on his side, and that was really weird.  
>"What are you doing here?" Conan asked in a tired voice and glared at him.<br>"Oh, I was in the neighbourhood, thought I should come by," the man in the window hummed.  
>"I doubt you came by, and waited close by for an hour, without having something in mind," Conan snorted and received a new grin.<p>

"So what do you want?" Conan asked and eyed the thief that was smiling again.  
>"Ooh~," KID jumped into the room and Conan raised his eyebrow, "I have a gift for you!" KID threw out his arms and grinned, Conan became suspicious.<br>"What? You haven't stolen anything, so you have nothing to return," Conan asserted as the thief snickered.  
>"Well, it's something that I made for you, as thanks-" KID beamed and Conan jumped off the chair, the grin that the thief was giving him made him want to run.<br>'He's up to something,' Conan thought as he saw a smoke bomb fall from the intruder's sleeve.  
>"-For the bruise you gave me!" The child opened his watch and a darker smoke flared around him.<br>'Pink, don't breath,' he thought as he lost consciousness.

* * *

><p>"Conan-kun!" an angry voice roared at him and allowed him to awaken, "what have you done?!" The small detective seated himself; he was sitting on something soft, a bed?<br>"Ran-neechan?" he mumbled and blinked confused. 'What did that thief do to me?' Conan coughed slightly; his hair felt wrong, his face felt wrong, his body felt wrong, _he_ felt wrong. The child looked down on himself and groaned; he was forced into one of Ran's short blue dresses. It had been too big for him but KID had fitted it so it sat perfectly around his body, making it look like some kind of blue gown.  
>"Mou!" Ran sounded a bit angry but started to giggle and he threw her a confused look. Conan threw a glance around himself and realised that he was in Ran's room.<p>

"Ran, what are you laughing at?" Sonoko's confused voice came from the corridor.  
>"Sonoko! You have to see this, hurry!" Ran laughed and Conan felt something touch his hand, a red lipstick laid on the bed beside him. The detective went cold; a lot of makeup accessories were spread all around him.<br>'Don't tell me KID...' he thought as Sonoko yelled and then broke down laughing. "Ran-neechan! I didn't do this! It was KID! He did it because I kicked a ball at him!" Conan tried to explain, but only got the girls laughing harder. 'Damn it, KID, what did you do?' Conan jumped down from the bed, pulled up the end of the dress and ran to the bathroom. His action made him think of a lady in one of those sappy movies that always wore a long dress and had to pull it up so she could run into the arms of her love, and he did _not_ like it.

In the mirror there was a boy with makeup all over his face, looking like a cute girl. The boy in the mirror had mascara on his eyelashes and his eyes were marked with black eyeliner. He wore blue, glittering eye-shadow that matched his eyes and his dress. His lips were a dark, glowing red and his face was as covered in foundation, making it as smooth as a dolls. Conan stared in the mirror with shock; KID had even plucked his eyebrows, and he swallowed.  
>'The makeup would probably be considered beautiful if put on a woman,' he stared at his own reflection and he knew that something was wrong with his hair, but he couldn't tell exactly what. Conan threw a glance at his watch and was amazed; KID had finished his work in less than ten minutes, and that included carrying an unconscious boy to another room, finding a dress, putting him in it, fitting it and putting makeup on him. "What the hell?" he muttered to his watch.<p>

"Conan-kun?" Ran's voice asked carefully.  
>'She can help me remove this stuff!' Conan thought and smiled as he turned to her. As soon as he'd turned a bright flash blinded him, and the noise of a phone taking a picture quickly followed.<br>"No, Ran, erase it!" he begged with horror, but the girls just giggled and looked at the picture.  
>"Ran, you have to send it to me!" Sonoko laughed and Ran sent it.<br>"You're so cute Conan-kun!" Ran beamed and giggled, "I have to send this to Fumiyo-chan!" Conan's eyes widened.  
>"No! Not to mom!"<p>

They didn't listen and Conan could see his mother's delight when she opened her phone to look at a picture of her son; covered in fancy makeup, standing in a long blue gown, holding said dress with one hand and into the sink with the other, and smiling! 'God, mom, she's going to show that picture to everyone,' Conan heard a small whine escape his mouth and he looked at the girls still giggling over his picture. "Ran-neechan! You didn't send that picture to anyone else, did you?" Conan asked and begged to every deity that she'd say no.  
>"Only my mother and Kazuha-chan," she answered and Conan winced; that meant Hattori would see it, because Kazuha would most certainly react the same way that Ran and Sonoko were.<p>

"Please help me get this stuff off," Conan begged and Ran smiled.  
>"You ruined my makeup, so just use soap," she said and walked out of the bathroom at the same time as his phone buzzed.<br>'A message,' he thought annoyed.  
><em>"Oh my God! Shin-chan! You're gorgeous! Did Ran do that to you?"<em> Conan snorted; like Ran would ever do something like that.  
><em>"No. KID... ERASE IT!"<em> he answered and sighed as the phone started to ring.  
>"What tha hell Kudou?" a voice yelled in his ear, "is that really ya'? Why are ya' dressed like that? Makeup?" Conan listened to Hattori repeat certain words and sighed as he waited for him to calm down.<p>

"Done?" he asked coldly then the Osakan detective became quiet, "I have an explanation; the long version or the short?" The child heard the other laugh as he chose the short one.  
>"Okay, the short one goes like this; Kaitou KID," Conan made a pause, "was there anything else you wondered or can I take a shower?" The teen in the other end chuckled.<br>"Ya're still in tha dress, aren't ya'?"  
>"I'm hanging up on you," he muttered with a scowl and received a fast apology.<br>"What's tha long version?" Hattori asked.  
>"The long version goes like this; I got KID with my football, a little more than a week ago, he got a bruise and now he got his revenge," the child replied tired.<br>"Oh, I see, that must be irritating. Oh, an' by the way, ya're really cute in that dress, Ku-," Conan snapped his phone shut and went to lock the bathroom door; in his imagination he could hear Hattori laughing at him.

Conan stared at his chest in the mirror and grimaced. It said: "Good luck with singing, Tantei-kun! – Kaitou KID" singed with his signature doodle beside his name. In the end he didn't get the text out nor did he get away the makeup, even Ran's makeup-remover-stuff didn't help and he ended up skipping three days of school in order to try and wash it away. The makeup and text was gone after those days but the Kaitou KID doodle refused to go away.  
>'At least I missed three days of music,' Conan thought as he walked to school the next Monday, painfully aware of the mark on his chest. It was as if he was a toy and had been marked by the owner's signature.<p>

* * *

><p>AN: I don't know anything about tone-deafness other than what my music teacher told me. I was tone-deaf once, and I've been taught to sing. (It's hilarious to sing karaoke with my family and my relatives, because everyone is tone-deaf) 8P  
>From what I've understood:<p>

Tone-deaf = lack of relative pitch = no ability to hear differences in tone frequency.  
>Perfect pitch = ability to hear the exact frequency, and in Conan's case also sounding that frequency, as shown in the 12th movie "Full Score of Fear"<p>

.

A funny story about tone-deafness, after I was taught how to sing, was when I was in theatre class and was supposed to sing. I played a person who could sing. It was a simple children's song that I've sung billions of times, _BUT_ they had changed the lyrics, so when I got up on stage I couldn't sing it, I tried four or five times before giving up. And my teacher loved it, she said;  
>"That was great! It becomes so funny if you pretend that you can't sing!" I was known in class to have a somewhat good song voice, I sung in a choir too, and there I was, trying very hard to sound good, and I could see the disturbed faces of my classmates as I utterly and completely ruined the song. I just thought;<br>'Yes, _pretend, I am pretending. Yes_.' At the time I didn't know that to do with myself, but now afterwards I can't help but to laugh! XD


	8. Watching from Behind the Lines

A/N: Reviews are really appreciated :D

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

Chapter rating: K+  
>Words: 4,100<br>Revised: 2014-09-14

* * *

><p><strong>Chap. 8<br>Watching from Behind the Lines**

Conan's head felt heavy as he woke up and it was pounding in a really unpleasant way, foreboding of a headache.  
>"I'm getting ill, great timing," he sighed to himself when he shivered as he got up. Neither Hakuba nor inspector Nakamori had been able to decipher the heist note that KID had sent, so they contacted the sleeping detective. Conan wasn't surprised that they hadn't figured it out, the note had been written with the murder on the bridge in mind, which none of the others had any knowledge of. To them the note just didn't make any sense, but it was a direct challenge to Conan, who'd sworn to get revenge. A little bruise was nothing in comparison to having that picture sent around to his friends, his father and his mother, now <em>that<em> was humiliating.

* * *

><p>Conan stood still in a corner, watching inspector Nakamori prepare one of the traps for KID and he blinked as a person, looking just like Ran walked up to the bellowing inspector and handed him a bento.<br>"Kaito!" she yelled and stared at the door, "you're slow!" The girl didn't sound like Ran, but could have been her twin if he didn't count the shorter and less cared for hair. Conan felt his eyes lose focus and he leaned into the corner; the world was rocking slightly.  
>'Damn,' he grumbled in his head and narrowed his eyes to regain focus. He tried to fight the headache and to push it away, but it seemed to enhance when he did.<br>"Yea yea, I'm coming," a bored voice came in response and Conan saw how Kudou Shinichi entered, closely followed by an annoyed Hakuba. "You do know that I'm a KID-fan?" Conan gaped at the impostor, "I don't actually want him captured." The Ran-lookalike and inspector Nakamori glared at him.  
>"Kaito! You're going to help, or I'm going to beat you with a mop!"<p>

'Kaito? Mop?' Conan slid down the wall until he sat on the floor. He felt feverish as he studied the people in the room, completely unaware of his presence.  
>"But, Aoko, he's a fellow magician!" the one called Kaito complained and received an annoyed huff from the police officer.<br>"He's a damned _thief_!" the inspector roared at the Shinichi-copy, and Conan turned his gaze to the rest of the room. Where were Ran and that drunkard?

"So tell me, is this magician-safe?" Nakamori asked the young boy who sighed.  
>"Well, I <em>am<em> a magician, but _not_ a thief. I can check what I would do if I was trying to break into it," the young man tilted his head at the display cage. "Well, I don't have any experience of breaking into stuff," Kaito said and snickered, "other than my house when I forget my keys." The girl named Aoko smacked the boy on the head.  
>"BaKaito! Concentrate!" she roared and he rubbed his head.<br>"Fine, fine," he held up his hands to shield himself and got back to looking at the display case. "Can I try and steal it?" he asked and Conan studied him; was he always checking the traps Nakamori-keibu sat up?

"Go ahead," the inspector grinned and Kaito went to pick the lock. A surprised 'eep' was heard and the magician dropped his lock-picking tool and stared at the case. "I electrified it," Nakamori stated proudly.  
>"Oh," the young man answered with a sigh and Hakuba studied him closely. "I don't think the diamond's safe," he claimed and Nakamori's grin faded.<br>"Why? What can we do more? You've checked the other traps, but why isn't it safe once _all_ of them are activated?" The boy grinned happily at the question.  
>"Your opponent is KID!" he said like it was obvious, "he's a phantom thief. He can steal anything! I, of course, am a better magician, but he's a better thief."<br>The Ran-copy huffed, "I can't believe that you're on his side, he's a criminal!"

Conan closed his eyes and massaged his throbbing temples. It felt good to close his eyes, the world stopped spinning as he did. The detective let his arms rest in his lap and sighed deeply. When he opened them again everyone had vanished and the light outside the windows was gone. It was darker in the room and he threw a glance on his watch. He'd been asleep for over five hours and he did feel a lot better. His neck was a bit sore, but otherwise he felt fine. Conan let his eyes study the room; Nakamori-keibu must have activated the KID-trap with him still inside. How could he have missed him? Although, he could've been obscured by the other display cases that were placed along the walls of the museum, but it was still sloppy.

It was less than twenty minutes left until ten when the heist was going to start. He grimaced; Ran must be worried since he didn't show up for dinner, but now he was inside the trap, which was both a bit disturbing and interesting. Conan would be able to watch KID steal it, if he hadn't already.  
>"Damn," he sighed and studied every nick of the room. All of his plans had been laid to waste, and all his planned tripwires were still in his bag, hidden in the restroom. Conan was supposed to begin putting them up when there were only thirty minutes left and he was supposed to block the best escape routes. He was supposed to set up a trap to dye KID pink and green, and after that he would dart him. Conan threw a glance at his watch, one minute had passed and he frowned annoyed.<br>"This sucks," he murmured, 'it's going to take a _long _time.' Conan activated the night vision on his glasses and waited.

* * *

><p>He smiled and tried to make himself smaller when he saw the air vent in the ceiling open. The watch showed that there were still five more minutes until KID would strike, so he must be preparing. KID was studying the room through some kind of binoculars, that probably had been modified and Conan smiled as the thief put them away. The child had never seen this side of KID before, he'd only seen him while he had everything prepared and with a poker face. Since there were no one that could see him he wasn't smiling, but frowning down at the display case. Conan was fascinated; he was watching a thoughtful KID, without poker face.<p>

KID suddenly grinned and brought out a dove, he whispered to it and released it. Conan studied it as it flew just underneath the ceiling and then seated itself on top of the curtains. A lot of doves placed themselves around the room, never travelling through the forest of lasers and always staying high. The doves seemed to be doing something to the curtains and then turned to the thief when they were done. Conan looked at his watch; three minutes left. KID snapped his fingers and the doves jumped behind the curtains and vanished.  
>"Maki-chan, lasers," the thief sang, and in the completely silent room Conan could hear him.<p>

The child stared through his telescopic lenses with amazement; the dove was mounted with something that looked like a helmet. KID dropped the dove and it flew in strange patterns, avoiding the lasers and placed something small on top of the display case, it then returned to its master.  
>"One minute," the thief mumbled with a smile, like he'd seen through everything and was only waiting for the right time. He kept his eyes locked to his watch while he petted the dove after removing its helmet.<p>

"Thirty seconds," KID hummed and kissed his dove on its head while the thing the dove had dropped made a small hissing sound. KID counted down from ten and as he reached zero he pushed a button on a controller and jumped down. Conan got up from the floor; his body was feeling numb from sitting on it and sleeping, while his head started to pound again by the movement. He hid behind a display case and watched as KID picked up the gem from a hole in the glass.  
>"Thank you, Nakamori-keibu, always a pleasure doing business with you," KID grinned against the metallic door as people on the other side were trying to break it down. The thief placed the diamond inside his inner pocket and left a fake in its place. He then jumped down and pulled in something; a rope? Conan saw how something fell from the ceiling and hung in the air. The thief stretched it until it became somewhat square-like and moved it to what would become the back of the cage when the trap was activated.<p>

Conan smiled and walked out from his hiding place.  
>"What are you going to play tonight, Kaitou KID-san?" He saw how the thief twitched and jolted his head towards the voice.<br>"Tantei-kun!" the thief recovered quickly, "I thought you went home with Mouri-chan and Tantei-baka!" Conan huffed in response, "tsk, tsk, Tantei-kun, it's an ugly habit of you to jump out like that, even if I am a thief." The child grinned towards KID.  
>"Say, KID, would you like to try out my new upgrade?" the child chuckled and KID only grinned.<br>"The new upgrade on the watch? Hmm," KID asked with that smug smile and Conan huffed.  
>"So it really was you that were following me around? How annoying, don't you have anything better to do?" the mini detective's voice was cold and he smiled sharply, "I noticed it."<p>

"Ooh~, did you really?" the thief didn't move a muscle, "I must assume that the new upgrade comes in handy?" This time it was Conan's turn to show a smug smile as KID's eyes narrowed.  
>"Damn it to hell," Conan mumbled as his eyes lost focus and he had to support himself against the case he'd been hiding behind.<br>"Such language," the thief muttered disapprovingly with a raised eyebrow and Conan felt how the world started to rock again. "Are you all right?" KID asked carefully and eyed the child.  
>"Fine, why are you still here? Aren't you going to run?" Conan opened one eye to watch the thief, but quickly closed it as he couldn't focus and began to feel nauseous. Conan felt how his chest started to hurt, almost in the same way like when he changed and he tried to suppress it; push it away and bury it deep inside.<br>"Maybe, I don't feel like leaving quite yet," the thief shrugged and watched the child, 'Tantei-kun looks bad.'

"You need them to be present, so you can gloat," Conan mumbled and took a deep breath. He knew that his voice betrayed him; he could hear that it sounded like he was in pain, which he was, and it was getting even worse. 'Am I going to change?' he thought panicked and glanced towards the door before closing his eyes again, 'No. No, I'm not going to change, it doesn't feel the same.' Conan sighed and gritted his teeth as he heard the rustling of a cape; KID was moving. The child opened his eyes to glare at the thief who was walking towards him.  
>"They're going to break through the door soon," Conan mumbled and earned a grin from KID.<br>"Yes, in a while. I took out the electricity and the generators. I could've taken them out, stolen the diamond and then gone home, but I decided that," KID crouched down and put one gloved hand on the child's forehead, "that plan was boring."

"You're burning up, you should be in bed," the teenager frowned and looked at him.  
>"Like hell I would! Do you know that they took a picture of me in your handiwork!? I'm going to capture you and I'm going to-," Conan interrupted himself and closed his eyes. He tried to pull away from the thief, KID's hand was too cold to be comfortable, compared to his forehead. The thief made a humming sound; he was concerned.<br>"An eye for an eye." Conan could hear KID's smile in his voice and he pulled up his arm to dart him, but as he opened his eyes and was about to shoot he realised that the watch was gone, stolen by the thief without him realising it.

Weak lights flickered on in the room and KID smiled.  
>"Here comes the cavalry," he chuckled and picked up the child. Conan squeaked in surprise and scowled angrily at the thief.<br>"Put me down! I'm not a child you can carry around!" he roared angrily at KID and tried to kick him, which only served to make the thief laugh, so he stopped his struggle.  
>"So you're not a child?" KID grinned and started to walk back to the display case he just robbed, holding the detective to his chest, "then you're a pocket size detective I can carry around!" Conan felt that the thief had way too much fun with his misery.<br>"You just wait, I'll show you!" he muttered as the door was opened and showed inspector Nakamori.

"Kaitou KID, I finally have you captured!" he claimed in a loud voice and pressed a button. Curved metal bars arose from the floor and formed a cage that looked like a rosebud.  
>"Good evening, keibu-san! I <em>love<em> this new cage; it's beautiful compared to the other _boring_ jail cell you're always trying to put me in," KID smiled and applauded.  
>"What the hell is that kid doing here?" Nakamori yelled when he saw Conan in the thief's arms.<p>

KID looked down at the child and mentally frowned; Tantei-kun was gripping the clothes above his heart with one hand and holding the other over his mouth, so he wouldn't scream? His eyes were tightly shut, he looked like he was in a lot of pain.  
>"I'm afraid that I have to take my leave now," KID said, poker face in full effect, and tipped his hat at the inspector and Hakuba, who was standing behind him. Smoke erupted and covered the room. The thief moved and when the smoked had cleared, he was nowhere to be seen.<br>"Impossible!" the inspector bellowed, and the child opened his eyes.

KID placed a gentle hand over his mouth with a small hush and Conan realised that they must be hiding behind whatever it was that the thief had lowered from the ceiling.  
>"Open it, check the diamond!" Nakamori commanded.<br>"No! He must still be inside! If you open it, he'll escape!" Hakuba took the controller from the museum's owner and KID smiled.  
>"Watch this," he mumbled and snapped his fingers loudly. Smoke covered the taskforce and the doves flew up from their hiding place outside the cage.<p>

Conan could hear KID's laughter disappear behind the inspector, despite that the thief was right there with him, not laughing.  
>"Nice try!" the voice said and when the smoke cleared everyone had been covered in different colours. Hakuba looked like he was going to die of shock.<br>"KID escaped! After him!" the taskforce bolted out through the door and the thief snickered lowly. "Open the cage, check if the diamond is fake or not!" Nakamori roared before following his taskforce. Hakuba opened the cage and the museum's owner entered together with him. Conan saw how KID placed his gas mask over his face so he searched his own pockets for the mini air tank, which would give him ten minutes of air. It was obvious what KID was up to and Conan didn't want to fall asleep; it was interesting to observe KID from his own perspective despite feeling a bit ill, revenge would have to wait.

"It's a fake!" the owner exclaimed and KID threw something that looked like an egg along the floor. It rolled and reached Hakuba's feet, the detective looked down as it exploded and an expression of horror flashed past his face before he fell asleep. KID snickered inside his gas mask and ran swiftly through the smoke. Conan closed his eyes, only breathing through his air tank; it was extremely uncomfortable to be picked up and held, but being run with was even worse.

"Cool toy you've got, Tantei-kun, is it some kind of gas mask?" Conan opened his eyes for a moment to look at the thief who met his eyes. He immediately became dizzy and quickly closed them again. KID didn't have his gas mask anymore and he looked worried. When he began to run up the stairs Conan felt nauseous and tried to breathe deeply to make it go away. The world was spinning around him and he couldn't tell what was up or what was down, once he was certain that KID was holding him upside down until he opened his eyes and stared up at the thief, making him confused.

The child had difficulty breathing and he began to tremble, it was almost like small spasms throughout his body. He felt ice cold, he was gritting his teeth and trying to gasp for air at the same time.  
>"Oi! Tantei-kun," KID stopped and held him.<br>"M f-, fine," the child forced out through his teeth.  
>"No, you're obviously not, stop trying to lie to me, I'm taking you to the hospital," the thief huffed annoyed and folded the end of his mantle around the shivering boy. "By police car or ambulance it takes at least thirty minutes to get to the E.R." KID mumbled, more to himself that the child and started running again, "by flying it takes, approximately five minutes, considering wind speed."<p>

"Not the hospital," Conan begged and grabbed into the white suit after his brain had processed what KID had told him.  
>"Not debatable!" KID ran through the door to the roof and shielded the child from the wind as he unfolded Conan from the end of the mantle. A breeze swept over him and he suddenly stopped shivering and became limp which made the thief look at him. Conan was staring up at the stars above them with an empty stare and sighed, the shivering had stopped and he felt a lot better.<br>"Tantei-kun?" KID asked warily and put two fingers over the child's carotid artery. "Tantei-kun, breathe," Conan turned his absentminded gaze to the thief, not realising that he'd actually stopped breathing for the moment. "Good, keep breathing, and don't scare me like that," the thief mumbled with a sigh of relief as the child started breathing again. "You're cold," he mumbled after holding his hand over the child's forehead.

As soon as Conan started breathing again he started trembling and KID pulled out clothes from what seemed like empty air. The thief pulled them over Conan's head and wrapped him like a mummy. The door to the roof swung open and Hakuba stood there.  
>"KID! This time you won't get away!" he stated and saw that the thief was ignoring him. "What are you doing?" Hakuba saw how KID picked up the small bundle of clothes.<br>"Sorry, Tantei-san, I have to get Tantei-kun to a hospital," he answered and unfolded the glider. "Give me the diamond first, and then leave." KID only shook his head and ran towards the edge. Hakuba sighed and saw how the white glider headed for Beika Central Hospital.  
>"Nakamori-keibu, KID is gone," Hakuba said in the radio, 'should I tell him where he's going?' Hakuba shook his head and went down the stairs, writing in his notebook; this time he would let KID go.<p>

Conan stopped shivering inside his cocoon; it was warm, comfortable, oddly secure and the feeling of flying made him giddy.  
>"I wish I could fly," he mumbled and KID hummed.<br>"It's amazing, isn't it?" They landed outside the hospital entrance, causing an excited turmoil and KID ran inside.  
>"Excuse me madam," KID said and tipped his hat at the gaping receptionist, "I have a patient," the receptionist nodded and picked up the phone, still gaping at him. "Oi, Tantei-kun, you haven't stopped breathing again have you?" KID mumbled and looked at the child.<br>"I can take care of myself!" Conan growled from inside the bundle of clothes, he would never admit that he liked it inside. A woman giggled at his words, making him blush. He knew that he was acting childish, but as long as he was a child it would be okay, right?  
>"Of course you can," KID chuckled, "I can hear that you're feeling a little better." Conan huffed annoyed. He was feeling better, but he wondered of his pride would ever be the same after everything he'd gone through, probably not, and KID wasn't making it any better.<p>

The doctor that came to get him froze at the sight of the phantom thief, but quickly recovered. "Okay," he cleared his throat trying to act professional. "My name is Narita Manabu, KID-san, if you come this way," the doctor said and walked away. KID grinned; obviously enjoying the way people reacted to him.

"So what seems to be the trouble?" He asked as soon as they were inside his examination room. KID had undone the extra clothes and made them disappear.  
>"Dizziness, fever, first he was burning up then he started to shiver and went ice cold, he stopped breathing once, and I had to remind him. He doesn't like hospitals so he might try to convince you that nothing's wrong, or might try to escape."<p>

The child started to shiver as soon as he was out from his protective cocoon and the doctor looked at KID with a strange glance.  
>"His name is Edogawa Conan, one of my detectives," the thief explained as the doctor examined the child. The thief placed himself by the window and looked out; there were no police cars in sight and he relaxed slightly. He had at least fifteen minutes before they would arrive. "Tantei-kun, can I borrow your phone?" KID grinned, "oh, I already have." KID saw how the child stole a pen from the doctors pocked and threw it towards him. The doctor sent KID a disapproving glance as the thief opened the phone. The shrunken detective had been lucky; KID had taken Conan's phone and not Shinichi's, it was after all a fifty-fifty chance.<p>

"Hello there, is this the home of Mouri Ran and Mouri Kogoro?" KID asked in the doctor's voice, making the doctor jolt up his head and pale. "Ah, yes, this is Narita Manabu, I'm a doctor at Beika Central Hospital, we have Edogawa Conan here, he's a bit ill, nothing to worry about," the real Narita Manabu gaped at the thief. "Kaitou KID brought him in. Yes. Yes. Yes, you can come by." KID clicked the phone shut and grinned at them. "I saved you a call, Narita-sensei."

"Unbelievable," the doctor mumbled and gave Conan a glass of water and two pills. "Take this," Narita said and dialled a number on the display by the door. The child reluctantly swallowed the pills and lay down, his body was still shivering, but he could feel himself slowly getting better.  
>"What did you give him?" KID wondered and stared at the child that was falling asleep.<br>"A weak sedative and antipyretic, we're going to take him to another room," the doctor stared at the thief, "and considering that you break into high security facilities on a regular basis, I can't stop you from following."  
>KID grinned, "I just want to make sure that he's alright." After a while a nurse came in to get the child that had fallen asleep and the thief dressed up as Narita in a puff of smoke, making her uncomfortable and gained another, "Unbelievable," from the doctor who watched himself follow the nurse.<p>

* * *

><p>As Conan woke up Ran was sitting beside him, looking both angry and relieved.<br>"I'm sorry Ran-neechan, I fell asleep at the heist," he said sheepishly and looked at her.  
>"It's okay, Conan-kun, I shouldn't have assumed that you went home, I know that you like to chase that thief, it's a good thing that he's harmless." She petted him on his head. "KID left you flowers and a note," Ran pointed to the other side of the bed. Conan stared at the flowers and the card with a KID-doodle on the front. He grabbed the card, opened it and read:<p>

"_I stole the flowers from the hospital garden, I wanted to put in Gladioli, but couldn't find any. The flowers on the table are Geranium._

_Both flowers have a lot of meanings, but I was mainly thinking:_  
><em>Geranium – idiocy<em>  
><em>And<em>  
><em>Gladioli – Give me a break<em>

_- Kaitou KID_

_Oh, and make sure you're feeling well next heist! We still have a game to finish!"_

'Stupid thief,' Conan's lips twitched in amusement and he handed the card to Ran so she could read.  
>"I brought a bento if you are hungry, since you didn't eat any dinner," Conan smiled, he felt a lot better now and he was starving.<p> 


	9. The Death of Kudou Shinichi

A/N: Reviews are appreciated

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

Chapter rating: T  
>Words: 3,100<br>Revised: 2014-09-14

* * *

><p><strong>Chap. 9<br>The Death of Kudou Shinichi**

Conan paced in the Kudou library while holding into the note KID had given him and snickered as he reread it for the hundredth time. He hated hospitals, but understood why KID had taken him there. The child frowned annoyed; he shouldn't be thinking about that thief. It was irritating that his thoughts were always drawn to him, almost everything reminded Conan of the phantom; in his dreams he was chasing KID, never catching him, but always close and it was infuriating!

The boy sighed as he continued thinking about things he shouldn't be thinking about. He'd met KID a couple times as a real child when he followed his father to a few heists and once at school, when KID gave him a riddle. He knew that this KID that he was up against now was another KID, a replacement or carrying some kind of legacy. Being KID could be passed from one magician to another. Conan sat down by the desk and stared at the books all around him; he really shouldn't be thinking about KID. He didn't even know if he wanted to catch him anymore, and that was something that made the shrunken detective disturbed. He couldn't understand why he no longer wanted to see the thief in shackles, no matter how much he was thinking about it, and what made him even more confused was that he'd begun to fear it; how could he as a detective feel distressed when thinking about the capture of a criminal?

Conan got up from the chair and started to study the books, looking for nothing in particular. He felt content as he let his fingers slide over the backs of the many volumes and smiled sadly, something was definitely wrong with him. The child's eyes were drawn upwards to a very thick book two rows above his head. "The Amazement of Magic." Conan smiled and climbed the bookshelf to get it down.

Most of the books in the library were detective novels, but there were also other research material that his father used and to Conan's own confusion he found himself trying to perform simple tricks involving sleight of hand and coins. He quickly realised that it was much simpler to figure out a trick than to actually perform it and from time to time he stopped and froze in the motion of a thought; what was he actually doing? Changing carrier? Trying to impress the moonlight magician by knowing the basics of magic? The child frowned in annoyance and huffed; like knowing the basics would impress KID, no, he had to go beyond basics and use advanced tricks-. Conan froze again; was he going to try and impress a thief?

Conan knew that something was different with him; he stumbled over dead bodies at least once every week and if he was really unlucky it would be once every day. Every time he'd mentioned it to his parents they'd just smiled sadly and a bit guilty, and he'd managed to coax pieces out of his parents but they refused to tell the whole story. Two of those pieces were Pandora and Kaitou KID.

The child sighed; should he call? Should he ask them about _that_ incident, involving Pandora and the first KID? Conan frowned and stopped in the middle of the room. The current KID was only stealing gems and then returning them. Could he be looking for Pandora, in that case why? Hadn't the first KID told him his part of the story? Why did the new KID start searching in the first place? Was he even searching for Pandora? Conan shook his head; there must be a different reason for this KID to be stealing, legacy? Giving the world a magical feeling? Instead of murder and violence, a thief and gentleman, stealing and returning. The only conclusion Conan could draw was that he didn't have enough information.

He nodded to himself, opened Shinichi's phone and called.  
>"Hi, dad, it's me."<br>"Shinichi! How are you doing?" the phone was snatched from Yuusaku's hands.  
>"Shin-chan! It's been so long since we've heard from you!" his mother squealed in the phone, "I can't believe how cute you were in that dress! KID did a wonderful job!" Conan felt his eyes twitch. He hadn't expected his mother to actually erase the picture, not even under death threat, but she didn't have to throw it in his face.<p>

"Hi, mom. I can hear that you're having fun," he smiled a little bitterly; at least someone had.  
>"We're currently in Italy, we just got back to the hotel room from the beach, there aren't so much people out in the mornings, but it's so warm! It must've begun to get warm in Japan too, oh, and how are you? Everything alright?" she laughed a little and smiled at her husband.<br>"Yes and no. I need to know about _that_ incident. I need to know exactly what happened. I need to know more about Pandora."

Yukiko's smile faltered into a pained one and she handed the phone back to her husband.  
>"<em>That<em> incident," she mumbled and Yuusaku nodded as he took the phone.  
>"Where are you now?"<br>"At home, in the library. I need to know what happened," Conan answered and sat down in the armchair behind his father's desk and as he waited he could hear his father sigh heavily.  
>"Yes, I suppose we can't hold the full story from you anymore."<p>

"It was a horrible day for us, however, it began when you and I went to Toichi's heist," his father began.  
>"Wait, what? Toichi's heist?" His father laughed a bit.<br>"Yes, Shinichi. Kuroba Toichi, the first KID. He was a friend of the family until that incident. We had to break up our friendship for Pandora's and your safety. He really was a great man, a great magician. I couldn't believe it when he died in that accident two years later." Conan scratched his head; his parents had been friends of the original Kaitou KID, that was mindboggling. "We didn't actually know that Toichi was KID at first."

"At that heist, I allowed you to run after KID as usual and activate his traps while I was following you closely. You were laughing and huffing every time you stepped into one. I think you tried to be annoyed by the traps and angry every time you activated them, but you just couldn't help but to laugh, you especially liked the ones with glitter. You said that it was pretty when it sparkled in the air." Conan could hear his father's smile in his voice. "It's better to laugh after all, than to be angry," Yuusaku added lightly. "But that heist I lost track of you in the smoke of one trap and I couldn't find you. Neither you nor Kaitou KID were at the best escape route," his voice grew dark, "I found you on the roof in KID's arms, bleeding to death, that's when I found out that it was Toichi." Conan frowned; he didn't remember that.

"Your last words to me was; I saved him, dad, I saved him. You were smiling as you died and I was to shocked to do anything but hold you, no one ever died at the heists, KID never hurt anyone, so to be staring down at my own son, dying in my arms was so wrong." Yuusaku coughed. "Kaitou KID took of his hat and monocle." Conan shivered and went cold; he'd died?

* * *

><p>"Yuusaku," Toichi said and looked at the heartbroken man, his friend. "It's my fault, I should've seen the gun before Shinichi did." Toichi stared down at his blood soaked clothes and listened to the smiling boy.<br>"I saved him, dad, I saved him," it was heart breaking to hear the weak voice of a dying child mumble things like that, and it was all Toichi's own fault. With a last happy sigh Shinichi's eyes slowly closed and Yuusaku cried into his son's unmoving body. He took of his hat and monocle and stared at the man. Toichi carefully put one hand on his friend's shoulder but Yuusaku only tried to shrug it off, so he removed it. What could he do? Nothing. Saying 'sorry' wouldn't help. Just the thought of saying 'sorry' left a bitter taste in his mouth. He couldn't even imagine what he'd feel if his own Kaito had been the one who'd been shot and died.

"There might be a way to bring him back," Yuusaku stole a glance at him and laughed a humourless laugh.  
>"You're not just a thief, you're a friend, a magician, and <em>now<em> a miracle worker," Yuusaku started to cry again.  
>"A week ago I stole a gem from a laboratory, it's said to bring immortality if you drink its tears, but it has the ability to communicate, it's made by an artist who gave his life to the gem, the gem is alive. It wants nothing else but to understand life, to live life one time, to see and experience life through the eyes of a good person. It could bring him back, but there's a cost." Yuusaku turned dead eyes towards his friend; did Toichi actually expect him to believe that?<p>

"He would live a sheared life, together with Pandora," Yuusaku decided to ignore Toichi, who was obviously nuts, he was just surprised that he hadn't noticed it earlier. His friend was a magician who was an internationally wanted thief, who believed in real magic and talking gems, how could he not have noticed this? Yuusaku took off his coat and wrapped his dead son in it.  
>"Get help," he said in an icy voice as he got up from the ground, covering his blood stained clothes with the wrapped up boy. "You have a son too, talk to a psychologist, get some pills, and take care of your family." Yuusaku ignored everyone's wondering looks as he went down the stairs and got into an elevator. 'I must look like hell,' he thought as he got into a taxicab.<p>

It was no surprise to Toichi that Yuusaku didn't believe him; his friend was a man of science and logic, but he wouldn't give up that easily, so he flew of the building and went home to retrieve the gem. Yuusaku would have to believe him if he was talking directly to Pandora. Toichi found the couple sitting on the floor of the library, holding each other with the boy in between.  
>"Yuusaku, Yukiko," he said as he entered through the window.<br>"Go away, Toichi," Yuusaku said coldly and threw a glance at him.  
>"I brought Pandora, it says that it can help," Yukiko looked up with hope in her eyes.<br>"Toichi, you're just delusional," he sighed and patted his son's hair, he wasn't angry, he wasn't even sad anymore. Yuusaku felt cold and dead, just like his son.

Toichi slowly moved towards the couple, Yukiko stared at him with tears running down her face, trying to hold into the small shred of hope. When he entered the moonlight coming from the glass ceiling he held the gem in front of himself.  
>"Pandora, this boy saved my life, he's a good kid and he deserves a longer life, he wants to be a detective just like his father." Yuusaku shook his head while the magician spoke.<p>

_"He didn't die too long ago, and he's heart is pure. He knows that life is valuable. I can indeed help him, KID-san, but it has a cost."_

Yuusaku stared at Toichi and grew angry.  
>"If this is just you talking in two different voices I <em>will<em> kill you," he said with cold eyes and Toichi shook his head.  
>"It's Pandora, I'm not a ventriloquist. I'm not insane. What's the cost?" Toichi said and stared at the gem.<p>

_"You could call it a curse. I would have to bring him back using my own life. I can absorb life force from the ones that lies at the brink of death. He would be drawn to death, murders, suicides and accidents to replenish my life force, until he has given back what I gave him. He would also be forced to live a life together with me, his life would be a bit different, and when he dies his second death, we would die together. I would finally have lived a true life."_

"I still don't believe you, Toichi, this is just a very _sick_ joke," Yuusaku held into his son and Yukiko stared at her husband.  
>"We won't lose anything by trying," she mumbled to him with hope sparkling in her eyes. Toichi went closer to them when she spoke.<br>"Wait," Yuusaku cleared his throat as his tears threatened to start falling, "for the sake of argument I'm going with this insanity." He sighed before he continued. "We would be putting a curse on our own son, death would be following him. What kind of life would that be?" Yukiko grabbed his arm with a sad smile.  
>"Better than no life at all, and you could be there to help him. If he runs into a murder, you could solve it until he is ready to solve them himself."<p>

"What do you think it will do to him if he keeps running into murders and death throughout his entire life? It would be hard for him to find a woman strong enough to withstand that kind of terror, he might become unhappy and alone," Yuusaku said miserably and met her eyes. Yukiko nodded and buried her face in his shoulder.

_"He's young, it wouldn't take his entire life to pay back what he owes me,"_ Pandora's ghostly voice said.  
>"How long would it take?" Yuusaku asked and stared at Toichi with the green rock in his hand.<p>

_"I can't know exactly, but the longest it would take is until he's thirty, that would be while avoiding large hospitals. In the beginning I would be almost out of life force, and if he avoids collecting for me, his body would go into shock and we might both die. However, ill people are always taken to the hospital."_ Yuusaku nodded.  
>"So you're saying that we should do this and take him to the hospital, where we would be sacrificing other people's lives to save his. Shinichi wouldn't want that."<p>

_"The people I steal from have no chance of survival, they are already lost, and when I get stronger I will be able to communicate with him, we will become almost one and the same_," came the whispered answer from the gem.  
>"This is crazy, magic doesn't exist," Yuusaku mumbled, yet his eyes showed a small ounce of hope.<br>"There's something more that you should know," Toichi voiced, "I stole Pandora from someone very dangerous, and they may want it back. Everyone in the building wore black except the scientists. They didn't seem as interested in Pandora as they were experimenting with something else, but they're dangerous. I didn't send out a notice then I stole it, so they don't know that it was I, but it's too dangerous to be associated with me if they find out. If you chose to do this, then I will say goodbye, to protect both Shinichi and Pandora."

Yuusaku nodded and held up his hand so the magician could hand him Pandora. He didn't dare to think that it would actually work, it would hurt too much if it didn't; it must've been the insanity in the situation that made him do it.  
>"How do we do this?" he asked as Toichi handed him the gem with a sad smile.<p>

_"Place the body on the floor,"_ Yuusaku did as the whispering voice from the gem told him and the hope in Yukiko's eyes shone as she gave him an encouraging smile. There was silence as the cold light from the moon illuminated them.  
><em>"Place me in the wound,"<em> Yukiko grabbed his hand and gave him a nod, saying that they would do it together.  
>"Toichi, if this doesn't work, you should run," Yuusaku said and threw the man a glance, the magician shook his head wearing a small smile. The gem was placed in the wound, and it emitted a weak glow.<p>

* * *

><p>"We were suddenly blinded by light, and you were sleeping soundly. Alive," Yuusaku explained in the phone. "We brought you to the hospital after changing your clothes, and we said goodbye to a friend, but you were alive, and nothing could compare to that." The line was silent as they thought about the story. Conan blinked confused.<br>"Are you serious? But what about that Pandora jewel you're hiding in the safe?"

"That's a replica that Toichi made, it has the same strange glow in the moonlight as the original, which is, for what I understand, inside you. You're its guardian, and when you die so will Pandora," his father said smiling, "I love you so much, Shinichi." Conan blushed fiercely, his father never said things like that.  
>"We both love you, Shin-chan! And I hope you won't hate us for what we've done to you," another voice came from the phone.<br>"I know you do, mom, and dad. I love too, and nothing could ever make me hate you. But are you serious? This isn't some kind of joke?"

"Sorry, but no, it's no joke," his father said relieved and smiled at his wife.  
>"Okay, so magic is real?" Conan asked and raised an eyebrow.<br>"Well, I suppose some magic is. Pandora said that you'd be able to communicate with each other when it gets strong enough, you could ask it." Yuusaku said and chuckled a little at the thought of asking a stone about magic.  
>"Do you think that the current KID is looking for Pandora?" Conan wondered and absentmindedly started to play with the coin.<br>"I don't know. I've kept myself away from his heists because I knew the old one. But if KID is searching for Pandora, then you should watch out, you can't fight the organization that Toichi stole from and the Black Organization at the same time, as long as they aren't the same. What I'm talking about is; what if the new KID is working for them?" Conan agreed that it could be dangerous.

They carried on talking until Conan's phone rang and Ran wanted him to come home for dinner. He ended both calls and picked up the coin that he'd dropped and placed the book in his bag before going to his temporary home at the detective agency. At least now he understood why his parents hadn't freaked out when they found out that he'd shrunk. He'd already died, which technically made him a zombie. Conan's mouth twisted into a strange smile, somewhere in between disgust and a frown. 'I'm a shrunken zombie, chibi-zombie?' Conan sighed, he would need to tell Haibara that, that would lighten her mood.


	10. Lost and Found

A/N: Reviews appreciated

Warnings:  
>Conan is so OOC that Pluto seems to be just around the corner (but if we're talking astronomical terms it actually is).<br>Strange English

Chapter rating: K+  
>Words: 4,000<br>Revised: 2014-09-14

* * *

><p><strong>Chap. 10<br>Lost and Found**

"When are you going to tell her?" Haibara silently wondered as they were walking home from the movie theatre together with the kids.  
>"Tonight, and I have all these scenarios in my head, one worse than the other," Conan answered with a sigh. Haibara threw him a glance and smiled sadly.<br>"Do you know what to say?" Conan shrugged; he was terrified, despite growing up and knowing Ran for his entire life, he had no idea how she would react. He only knew that it would be bad.  
>"Can I answer yes and no?"<p>

"So, are you coming down with a new obsession?" Haibara smirked and changed subject.  
>"Huh?" Conan looked at her confused and she gave him a deadpanned expression.<br>"That," she said and pointed to his hands that were busy making coins appear and disappear.  
>"Oh! It's like kicking a ball, only less visible," he answered and Haibara raised an eyebrow.<br>"You find it therapeutic?" Conan shrugged and smiled at her.  
>"I guess. I've decided to learn to juggle with my hands too." At his words Haibara looked at him strangely, thinking something over for a while.<br>"Oh, I think I understand, even if you don't."

Conan sent her another confused stare and she smirked knowingly.  
>"I was going to give them to you after the call, but I think you should have them now," Haibara dug around in her pockets and pulled up something that looked like a hand full of studs. "It's a gift from me and Hakase. One can accomplish the impossible when one uses their head." Conan raised an eyebrow; he still didn't understand what she was hinting at.<p>

"It's an upgrade for the belt, or wherever you'd like to put them," she said and pushed the sides of one of the small silvery squares. A ball, the size of a baseball, popped out from the top of the stud and Haibara caught it. "It's made of another material than the ball inside the belt buckle, so they only have one size, but they last much longer; five minutes to be exact." Conan perked up and grabbed them.  
>"Thanks! This is awesome!" Haibara snickered at Conan's happiness.<br>"Oh, and KID will love them," she said mischievously.

* * *

><p>"Yo, Ran!" a voice came as she answered the phone.<br>"S-Shinichi!" she called out in surprise and blushed; she hadn't replied yet to his confession in London.  
>"How are things going for you?" Conan was standing hidden in an alley halfway between Agasa's house and the detective agency. He didn't dare to be at the agency when he was calling; there was a high possibility that she'd yell at him and hear her own voice in the phone.<br>"I-, I'm fine. You know, you're missing an awful lot of school. You should come home," she stammered in the phone.  
>"I'm sorry Ran, sorry for everything I've put you through, but I can't," Ran could hear Shinichi sigh; there was something in his voice that made her worried.<br>"Why? Why can't you just hand over that stupid case to someone else and come home?" Ran asked while gripping hard into the phone.  
>"The case is important, I have to solve it."<br>"More important than school, or me?" she asked irritated, "you need to come home now!"

"Yes, Ran. The case is more important to me than you are. I won't be coming home for you," Conan could almost hear her heart break, "Sonoko was absolutely right; I should never had said anything that stupid in London." She felt her inside freeze as the love of her life spoke. "It was so stupid of me to ask you to wait for me in the beginning, but then I didn't know. It was even more stupid of me to say that I love you in London. I like you, but not that way. I already have someone else that I love very deeply, we're getting married as soon as I graduate."

"_What?!_" Ran yelled into the phone, "what's wrong with you?! How can you tell me that you love me and then say that you already have someone else? SHINICHI!" Ran started to cry as she spoke, "I love you! Please tell me that it's not true! Please! Shinichi!" She sank down to the floor and cried into the phone.  
>"I'm sorry Ran, it's the truth."<p>

"NO! STUPID! Shinichi! Idiot! You stupid detective geek!" Conan heard her pain and her screamed insults. He felt himself tremble and thought of Haibara's words: "Let go of her hard and cold, and she'll hate you. If you're sweet she'll blame herself, and her recovery will be a lot longer." He swallowed hard.  
>"Ran?" he asked coldly after she'd stopped screaming and listened to her sobs.<br>"What's her name?" she mumbled in the phone still crying and Conan froze.  
>'Damn it, I didn't think of that.'<p>

"Well, what's her name? Or are you lying to me?"  
>"Huh? Why would I be lying about this?" Conan tried to come up with a name but all he could think of was people he knew. "Her name's Irene," he said using the first female name he could think of that didn't involve classmates and then mentally slapped himself. "Irene Singer," Conan frowned; it wasn't like he could say Irene Adler, <em>that<em> she would recognise.  
>"You're lying!" she screamed and Conan felt his heart skip a beat. He grew cold and distant as he continued.<br>"No, I'm not. It doesn't matter what you think of her! I love her! We'll be getting married and if you think she's a lie, then fine!" Conan heard himself sound angry and yell, even though he was only in pain. "It's not like I need your permission to get married! You have no right to be angry with her! I'm the one who made a stupid mistake by telling you something like that! I love _her_, not _you_!"

The detective clicked the phone shut after he'd yelled the last sentence. His heart was in agony and he panted as he leaned on the wall covering his face with his hands. He'd been preparing for that moment for two weeks, debating with himself, wondering what he should say, deducing what Ran might ask and say, when she would yell and when she would start to cry. Every preparation was in vain; he didn't follow any of the plans and Ran didn't ask the questions he'd thought she'd ask and he'd ended the conversation faster than he'd ever expected.

* * *

><p>Conan didn't know when he started running, trying to flee from something. He just wanted to get away, far away. His sight grew unclear from time to time just before tears fell down his cheeks. He'd been prepared for it; he'd thought that he'd let Ran go, that he'd moved on, but it was still too real. Maybe it was because in his head he hadn't been able to hear Ran's pain or her crying.<p>

The child, running through the streets, fell and got up, only to continue in his wild flight. He didn't know how long he'd been running; everything went passed him in a blur. The shining from the street lights, the legs of people he ran around and he was pretty sure he ran over a busy road. He could hear signal horns and the screeching of tyres, but he didn't see it. His body was aching with both physical and emotional pain.

He'd lost count over how many times he'd tripped over his own feet, and his hands, arms and knees were bleeding from the many impacts. Conan fell again but he was too fatigued to brace himself so he felt his chin painfully make contact with the ground. He forced his arms to push his body up from the road and stumbled as he got to his feet. He was seeing sparkling stars in front of his eyes and his sight was bad, almost covered by blackness, but he kept going. Conan slowly realised that he had no idea of where he was, but he didn't care, not as long as he could run, even though a small voice in his head whispered that it was dangerous as he ran between the large buildings.

He was somewhere in a maze of alleys when he crashed into the ground again, but this time he couldn't get up. He tried to move, but his body refused and he cried until his tears had dried up, and in the end he was just breathing erratically and making pained sounds. His throat and lungs were burning from the running, and he slowly calmed down. The detective with the appearance of a boy was lying in an alley, somewhere in Tokyo, alone and vulnerable. He felt tears begin to fall again, and he couldn't help it, because everything looked completely dark. He might never get a cure and now he was completely alone. He'd left everything behind; his life, his friends, and even the hope of ever returning.

He didn't know how long he'd been lying there when he suddenly heard footsteps and he was picked up into someone's arms. Conan tried to open his eyes but his eyelids seemed to be glued shut and hurt from all the crying. He heard a quiet bang, like from a muffled pistol and the nose of something hitting a metal railing far above. There was a small yank and he was travelling upwards in an elevator-like feeling. Conan could feel tears rolling down his cheeks and he couldn't stop them. He couldn't even move his aching body. All he could do was lay helpless in the arms of whoever it was that had picked him up.

The person, a man, started walking again and then sat down with Conan in his lap. His head was laid against someone's chest. Conan could hear their heartbeat and he felt a hand going through his hair.  
>'Searching for injury,' his brain stated as he recognised a pattern.<br>"Are you okay?" the man asked and Conan couldn't get anything out other than a croaked cough. He'd recognised the man's voice but he couldn't place it.  
>"M fine," he coughed and started to shiver; it was getting cold, and the heat from running had worn off long ago.<br>"You don't look fine to me. I'm going to take you away from here and take care of your injuries," the man said, but Conan had fallen into an exhausted sleep before he'd even finished the sentence.

* * *

><p>When Conan woke up he was lying on something soft and someone was taking care of the wound on his cheek, if the stinging was of some indication. He whined as he felt bandage press against the wound.<br>"So you're awake again," the man said softly and moved on to the wounds on his left arm. Conan coughed; his throat was dry and his eyes still felt like they were burning. A wet cloth was carefully pressed against his lips and he couldn't do anything but to allow the man's nursing.

Conan was terribly self-conscious as the stranger took care of his wounds, and if his body had obeyed him he would've been twitching. When the person was finished he felt himself being lifted and placed once again in his lap.  
>"Here, water," the person murmured and Conan felt a straw by his lips. He drank a little and felt his throat burn.<br>"Who?" Conan tried to ask, but the only thing that came out was a painful croak and he whimpered.  
>"Don't talk," the man hushed him and petted his hair.<p>

Conan listened to the man's heartbeat and from time to time he was given water. His senses slowly came back and he could feel his limp body aching even more.  
>"Flowers," Conan mumbled and the man looked at him. "Roses. Feathers. Chocolate. Sweetness," the man smiled amused as the child was commenting on what he smelt like. "Fireworks. Chemicals. Metal. Hmm, silk? The noise… a grappling hook," there was a long pause. 'Safety,' the drained child mumbled in thought. "How did you find me, KID?"<p>

"As expected of Tantei-kun, you can deduce who I am without even looking at me," the thief grinned amused and caressed the boy's hair. "You look like crap," KID stated and offered more water, "were you chased by someone?" Conan drank the water but didn't answer.  
>"How did you find me?" he mumbled again and enjoyed KID's attention on his hair; it felt really nice and he wished that it would never end.<br>"Oh, well. I have my dear Michi-chan and Kaoru-chan checking on you, while I have Nana-chan and Momo-chan checking on Tantei-san, but he's boring since he functions like clockwork," the thief mumbled, "I noticed that Michi-chan was travelling a long way and you were in a bad neighbourhood. Then considering how much trouble you always manage to get in, I thought it was best to check on you." The child in his lap huffed.  
>"Stalker," he mumbled hoarsely and the thief smiled.<p>

"Well, yes. If I were a detective it would be called _'investigating'_, wouldn't it?" KID laughed a little and offered him more water.  
>"What time is it?" Conan asked and felt content with leaning against KID, feeling the warmth radiating off of the thief's body and allowing the steady heartbeat to calm him.<br>"A little after half past eight," Conan got worried; it was more than three hours ago that he'd called Ran, and his thoughts was drawn to the hospital where KID had taken one of his phones.  
>"Did you call anyone?" he asked in a quick whisperer.<br>"Not yet, I thought I should take care of your injuries first," KID answered and Conan frowned; he sounded tired.  
>"Where are we?"<p>

"At a nice hotel," the thief said and fell backwards making Conan cry out in confusion. "Their beds are so soft," the thief mumbled and yawned.  
>"Can I stay for tonight?" Conan asked cautiously, he didn't want to go home to Ran quite yet, not with the way he felt. The detective found himself blushing; he was actually lying in the same bed as Kaitou KID on top of the thief's chest, with the thief's arms around him.<br>"Yea, sure. How come you haven't opened your eyes yet?" KID wondered and observed the child.  
>"I can't, my eyes are hurting too much, and they refuse to open," Conan mumbled and hid his face from the thief.<br>"I should probably call them and tell them that you're not dead or kidnapped," KID mumbled and Conan felt one of the phones disappear from his pockets.  
>"Wait! I have two phones, and if you use the wrong one I'll be in a lot of trouble," KID frowned and the second phone was taken out of his other pocket.<p>

"Why?" the thief sighed, "which one should I use? They look identical." KID was a bit intrigued by that fact that the child had two phones but he let the subject drop.  
>"Open them, and use the one with the picture of me and that drunkard," the child said while concentrating on the heartbeat of the thief.<br>"You have twelve missed calls, four from Haibara, one from professor Agasa and seven from the detective agency," KID informed him, "wow, that Haibara-girl must really like you." Conan huffed amused; Haibara was probably worried that she'd lost her research object.  
>"You should probably call Haibara first, or she'll come here and yell at me," Conan snickered, "or poison me for worrying her."<br>"Ok, your girlfriend first," KID snickered and Conan huffed.  
>"She's not my girlfriend. She's the devil's spawn." KID laughed heartedly at his comment as he rang.<p>

"I understand that you feel bad, but you've been gone for _hours_!" Haibara roared as soon as she'd answered, "you can't just disappear like that!"  
>"I'm sorry," KID said in the phone, using his normal voice.<br>"Who are you?" came a quick question in a suspicious tone, Conan could almost hear Haibara narrowing her eyes and frowning.  
>"I am the infamous Kaitou KID, at your service!" KID was grinning like an idiot, Conan was sure of it.<br>"Oh?" Haibara said and raised her eyebrow, "and Edogawa-kun is there with you?"

"Yes, he is," KID said and ruffled Conan's hair gently.  
>"Can I talk to him?" KID put the phone to Conan's ear.<br>"Hey, Haibara. Did Ran call you when I didn't get home?" Conan asked.  
>"Yep, can I speak with KID again?" It sounded like she was holding herself from laughing.<br>"She wants to talk to you again," Conan mumbled and KID took the phone.  
>"Internationally wanted phantom thief on the line, what can I do for you today?" The detective frowned when he heard a loud laughter in the phone and a click. "She hung up on me? Who doesn't want to talk with <em>the<em> Kaitou KID?" Conan could hear the confusion in KID's voice. "Why did she hang up? It was a joke, but, she hung up?"

"I told you, she's the devil's spawn, you can't predict the way she reacts, not even I saw that coming," he mumbled as KID gave a call to the detective agency.  
>"Mouri Detective Agency," a male voice answered.<br>"Well hello there!" KID said, sounding way to cheery and not the least tired, "I think I have something you've lost." At the agency detective Mouri Kogoro stood up.  
>"What do you mean?" he asked and narrowed his eyes in suspicion. His daughter was sitting on the couch sobbing since she'd been dumped by the detective brat and it had gotten worse since they hadn't been able to find the freeloader.<br>"I've found a child."  
>"You have Conan?" Kogoro asked and the phone was yanked from his hands.<br>"Conan! Conan is that you?" Ran's trembling voice asked.  
>"Hello," was all KID had time to say before Ran yelled; "Shinichi! Idiot!" in the phone and slammed it shut, effectively cutting of the call.<p>

"_What?_" KID asked baffled and stared at the phone in his hand, "what's wrong with everyone? Why did they hang up on me?" Kid frowned. "I'll call again," he mumbled and dialled.  
>"Mouri Detective Agency," Kogoro answered again.<br>"What just happened?" KID asked and received an annoyed huff.  
>"Am I talking to Kudou Shinichi?" he growled in the phone and KID raised an eyebrow.<br>"No, I just wanted to let you know that Conan will be staying with me tonight and that I'll bring him home tomorrow."  
>"If this isn't that stupid detective brat, then who am I talking to?" Kogoro growled, completely certain that it was Kudou on the line.<br>"Kaitou KID," KID answered with a grin.  
>"<em>What?<em> Kaitou KID?" Kogoro gaped at the empty air and Ran snatched the phone once more.  
>"KID? Do you have Conan?"<br>"Yes, I do," the thief answered.  
>"Can you bring him home? Is he alright?" Ran quickly asked worriedly.<br>"Yes, he's alright. I found him a little bruised up, but I've taken care of his wounds."  
>"Can you take him home?" Ran fidgeted where she stood.<br>"Finders keepers," KID said jokingly but then grew serious, "I'll bring him home tomorrow."  
>"Why? Why not tonight?"<br>"Well, to be honest, I'm really tired. I've pulled two all-nighters in a row and have only slept an hour or two. I don't feel like running around anymore without sleep."  
>"I can come and get him!"<br>"No, you could bring the police and your father. Then I'd have to run, and might get captured and spend the rest of my life in a prison cell. Okay, no, I would escape from the cell, but you get the point. My identity would be reviled and I would be forced to run my entire life." Ran tried to interject but KID kept talking. "I just called to let you know that he's safe, so you don't have to worry." KID clicked the phone shut and yawned.  
>"Is everyone around you crazy?" KID mumbled and took up his own phone. Conan could hear him dialling a number.<p>

"Hello, I'll be staying at a hotel tonight so you don't have to worry. Yes, I'm fine. No, not yet. Yes. You too," Conan heard KID finish the call with interest.  
>"So, Tantei-kun, my dear pocket size detective who apparently is not a child," Conan huffed at his title, "care to tell me from what you were running?" KID waited for an answer.<br>"I don't know, nothing really... Or maybe... Everything in my life, I guess," he mumbled and KID stared at him, he could feel it.  
>"Life, huh?" There was a long pause and Conan sighed.<br>"Well, if anyone could understand, it would be you," Conan mumbled and decided what to say.

"Edogawa Conan is not my real name," the child whispered, "how would you feel if you were forced to live your life as someone else?" The thief hummed.  
>"I see your point, may I ask why you have a false name?" Conan huffed and slowly shook his head. "Okay, can I ask what your real name is?" Conan shook his head again. "Okay, at least I know that you're not a schizophrenic," Conan frowned at KID's words, "now I understand why you behave like two different persons! One is your persona and the other is the real you. Tell me, is it the real you that I meet at the heists?"<p>

"Yes," was the only thing Conan said and KID thought it over. The thief thought of every scenario that could make a child adopt another persona, never getting close to the truth.  
>'Tantei-kun must be in danger,' KID mused to himself and absentmindedly stroked the child's hair.<br>"You must've missed dinner, you must be hungry," Conan could feel KID shift under him as the thief seated himself.  
>"I'm fine, it's not like it's the first time that it's happened. I miss dinner and lunch all the time," Conan said, trying to get his warm pillow to lie down again.<br>"That's not good," Kid frowned and picked up the hotel's phone beside the bed. "How does soup sound?" he asked as he pressed zero twice and Conan hummed.

"This situation is so weird," the child chuckled when KID hung up and the thief mumbled an agreement. The detective was placed on the soft bed and Conan sighed; he didn't know that was better, the softness of the bed or the warmth of KID. He heard a rustle of clothing; probably KID who changed out of his outfit into something less eye-catching.

"You know you're strange, right?" the thief said while he sat down beside the unmoving boy and began to pet him on his head, which made Conan hum contently. "How do you get your hair so silky?" KID asked mesmerized after a while and the child chuckled. The thief ruffled the hair violently and removed his hand. "Well, look at that!" he sounded offended, "it falls back perfectly!" Conan laughed and for a moment forgot his pain.

For once Conan didn't mind getting picked up and held. He didn't mind when KID placed him in his lap or when he actually spoon-fed him the soup. He didn't mind and he didn't care. He didn't understand why, but it must have been because his brain had stopped working or because that the world didn't seem as important as before; why else?  
>"Have you really been up for almost three days?" Conan mumbled, his voice still a bit hoarse.<p>

"I'm currently heading for the 65th hour," the thief said with yet another yawn.  
>"Thank you, KID," Conan mumbled and blushed when he was done eating, "I'm really grateful that it was you and not some pervert who picked me up. Thank you, for the food, for taking care of my injuries, for being here despite being tired." Conan was petted once more on his head.<br>"No problem," KID chuckled, "if something happened to anyone and I'd been able to stop it, but didn't. I would never be able to forgive myself." Conan listened as KID began humming a song he'd never heard before, and he was content with falling asleep in the thief's arms.

* * *

><p>AN: For those who wonder; No, KID is not a pedophile. He regards Conan as a bright child and nothing more.


	11. Broken Hearts and New Beginnings

A/N: Yes, to those of you who wonder, Shinichi will return (in chap. 20)

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

Chapter rating: K+  
>Words: 2,800<br>Revised: 2014-09-15

* * *

><p><strong>Chap. 11<br>Broken Hearts and New Beginnings**

Conan slowly awakened in his haze of warmth to the beating of a heart. He felt like he was sleeping on a cloud. The child tried to open his eyes, but they were still glued shut so he concentrated on everything around him. Someone was lying beside him with an arm around him and Conan had his forehead against that person's chest.  
>'KID,' the detective smiled as he could still smell the thief and he moved his head so he could better listen to his heart. The thief was breathing slowly and deeply in his sleep and Conan didn't expect him to awaken soon. KID had been up for a long time and probably needed it.<p>

Suddenly Conan realised what he was doing and he froze; he was actually cuddling an internationally wanted thief and he was actually using his 'child-state' for that sole purpose. A thief who might or might not work for someone else, who might want to get their hands on Pandora? Conan knew that KID always held the diamond he stole to the moon; Pandora became red in the light. He needed to ask KID, he needed to know if KID actually was a real criminal and not some eccentric magician who just wanted to bring a little wonder to the world. Why did he feel like he needed to know this so badly? Why the _hell_ was he blushing? Conan wanted to shake his head, but he didn't want to disturb the thief, who had after all taken care of him twice. The detective relaxed as he listened to the beating heart, and forced himself not to think of anything; he could not think about Ran, Pandora, his own death, KID, the never-ending chase of the Black Organisation or the cure that didn't seem to exist.

As Conan tried to not-think he heard the noise of a bird in flight and he carefully turned around so that his back was towards the thief. The dove landed somewhere in front of him, cooing and he slowly moved his hand towards the sound. Conan's hand gently touched a bird's leg and he smiled as he began to pet it.  
>"Is it Michi-chan?" he whispered lowly, so to not wake the sleeping thief. The bird flapped its wings and was gone. Conan became a bit disappointed for a moment, but the bird landed just underneath his chin, making it easier for him to pet it and he grinned.<p>

Conan fell in and out of sleep a couple times and just enjoyed that the dove seemed to know when he was sleeping and when he was not, because every time he woke up it flew to him from wherever in the room it was sitting. He had no idea what time it was but he couldn't bring himself to really care. The child fell asleep and awakened with his face buried in KID's chest. The thief's heart rate had increased and his arms were twitching slightly; he was dreaming and was probably going to wake up soon.

KID jolted up into a sitting position and took a deep breath. He sighed as he fell back into the bed and the dove came flying again.  
>"Nightmare?" Conan mumbled and buried his face in KID's clothes.<br>"Na, I jumped of a building only to realise that I forgot my glider. I kind of splashed into the ground," the thief snickered as the bird landed on top of him and he began stroking it. "Did I wake you?" he quickly added and Conan shook his head.  
>"No, I was awake already, and I still can't open my eyes. It feels like someone dumped a ton of sand in them," he sighed, "I'm hungry, what time is it?" the thief laughed and reached for something.<br>"Well, it looks like we slept in a bit, the time is one."

"What kind of breakfast, lunch, brunch do you want?" KID wondered and stretched himself.  
>"Whatever's fine," Conan answered as the bird flew over to him and started to pull in his hair.<br>"You're going to look like me if you allow Michi to make a nest of your hair," KID snickered and called room service.  
>'Look like you, huh?' Conan smiled; the thief had made a slip.<p>

* * *

><p>"You said last night that I'm strange," Conan started as KID seated him on a couch and placed his food on a table in front of him, "but you're the one who's really strange." He heard KID chuckle as he stretched out his arms to search for the food that was somewhere in front of him. "You steal and then return. Why?" the thief gently grabbed his hands and moved them to his food.<br>"You're the detective, shouldn't you figure it out?" KID's voice was cheery but there was something underneath it, Conan was sure of it.  
>"You're working for them, and they want something specific," the child stated calmly and KID started to cough; it sounded like he'd swallowed something wrong. "I was correct? That's no good," Conan mumbled sadly and started to eat.<br>"I would _never_ work for them!" KID growled sounding angry. "How could you say- How do you even know about them?" he asked concerned.

"Know about who?" the child said, he needed to know if it was them.  
>"Don't play games with me, Tantei-kun," the thief mumbled suspiciously, "what do you know?" Conan frowned; he needed to see KID's reactions, see his emotions to be able to read him.<br>"Black," The child said and took another bite, while he strained his ears to pick up any sound the thief made. Conan was sure that KID had stopped breathing for a moment, which could indicate that he'd also paled. The detective continued to eat, and if he hadn't been able to feel KID beside him he'd thought that he was alone.

"Tantei-kun, tell me about them, tell me about Snake, tell me everything you know," KID whispered where he sat, "I'm begging you. I need to know what you know." Conan placed the plate back to the table and grabbed into the thief's arm; KID sounded so sad.  
>'Snake, it's not <em>them<em>,' Conan thought relieved, but at the same time a bit worried that there were someone else out there. "I'm sorry, KID, I don't know anything about them," Conan squeezed the arm a bit before removing his hand.  
>"I think you're lying again, you know more." The detective shook his head.<br>"I'm sorry KID, but no, I don't know anything about a Snake," Conan mumbled; he'd upset the thief, but he was pretty sure that KID wasn't working for anyone, which was relieving. However, that would mean that KID is competing against an entire other gang, how many were they?

"Don't worry KID, I'll catch _them_ some day, and then I'll catch Snake for you," Conan smiled towards where he thought that KID's face should be; being blind wasn't funny.  
>"No, don't. They won't hesitate to shoot you," the thief mumbled and patted him, "so you really don't know anything?" Conan shook his head.<br>"No, I swear it on my real name. I swear it on Sherlock Holmes' name, that I don't know anything about an organisation with someone named Snake. I just asked questions, and you answered," he said; it wasn't like he could tell KID that he'd feared that the thief was part of the Black Organisation, just defying the dress code, even though it was unlikely, and that he'd asked questions with them in mind.  
>"Sneaky as always, Tantei-kun," KID mumbled annoyed.<br>'Should I ask him about Toichi? Or Pandora?' Conan shook his head, 'no, it's too soon, too risky.' Conan smiled as the thief patted him. 'Oh, yes, I'm certainly using my size to my advantage. What _am_ I doing? Why am I doing it? To get close to KID so I'll know who he is when I see him? Yes? No! Yes! Wait what? Aarg! This is so confusing...'

* * *

><p>Conan loved the feeling of flying, he'd loved it when his father had taught him how to fly in Hawaii, but flying with KID was different. He could feel the wind in his hair and he felt timeless; it was a warm day which made the flight extremely pleasant and it could last for an eternity for all he cared. The detective sighed when KID landed; the flight had been too short. Maybe he could get the professor to make him a glider, or maybe he could make one himself; if the professor made it then it would probably, for no reason whatsoever, explode. No, he couldn't make a glider, he would look ridiculous. Conan let out a small ´eep´ as he stopped his musings and grabbed onto KID when the thief rappelled down the wall and entered through the window. The living area was empty so KID walked down the stairs to the agency.<p>

"Hello," KID said as he entered and Conan could hear gasps.  
>"Kaitou KID?" a female voice asked and the thief closed the door.<br>"Well hello, Satou-chan!" KID sounded oddly happy, "I didn't expect to meet you here. Hello Takagi-kun, Keibu-san."

"Conan-kun! Is that you? What are you doing with Kaitou KID?" Conan smiled towards Satou's voice and greeted her in the cutest and most childish manner he could.  
>"Conan-kun!" Ran cried out and he felt himself being snatched from the thief, and hugged by Ran.<br>"One Tantei-kun ordered, with extra bandages on the side, that'll be 1,200 yen," KID grinned and tipped his hat at the police officers.  
>"Wait KID! How can I possibly thank you, if you hadn't found him," Ran started to cry again, "I can't even think about what could have happened to him. Conan where were you?" Ran dried her tears and looked at the child.<p>

"I'm sorry Ran-neechan, I was chased by two men, but I didn't see them clearly," KID raised a mental eyebrow; Tantei-kun was lying again, he hadn't been chased.  
>"Did you see them, KID?" Satou asked and the child turned his face towards the thief. Kaito understood what he wanted so he shook his head.<br>"No, he lost them himself," the thief continued the lie and Megure sighed.  
>"You know that we should be arresting you, but let's just say that you were never here, as thanks on the behalf of Conan-kun," the inspector smiled.<br>"Kaitou KID-san?" Satou bit her lip and the thief waited, "could I have your autograph?" Kaito lost his poker face, had he heard right?

"Satou-san? Are you a KID-fan?" Takagi asked confused.  
>"Ah, no, or maybe a little, it's Yumi who is one, and she keeps dragging me to the heists. She doesn't want to go alone," Satou explained a little sheepishly, "I know that he's a criminal, but I really like magic, and he doesn't hurt anyone." KID smiled and bowed when she finished.<br>"I am honoured to have such fine police officers as my fans," KID said and produced a flower for Satou, "I'll bring both of you a gift when we meet again at the station." The thief's grin widened and he looked at them challenging.  
>"Again?" Takagi mumbled.<br>"Ah, yes, I find it relaxing to visit the police headquarters from time to time and see that you catch _real_ criminals." There was a puff of smoke and the phantom had vanished.  
>'Relaxing,' Conan thought with a mental huff, 'more like amusing in a mentally disturbed way.'<p>

* * *

><p>During the coming week, Ran was fussing over his bruises all the while having outbursts of fury and causing holes in the walls, which a displeased Kogoro had to fix. Sonoko was also there to fuel Ran's hatred for Shinichi with ire. Conan played the good little brother, telling Ran that 'Shinichi is stupid' and trying to get her to compete in the tournament. She had a number in the competition, but she could still forfeit. Makoto, Sonoko's boyfriend, who also was supposed to compete, was the one who convinced Ran in the end to fight. He had injured his left leg and had to watch so she, someone worthy, had to win.<p>

* * *

><p>Conan watched with horror how Ran knocked out her fifth opponent with one strike. She had been dragged to the tournament without a fighting spirit, until Sonoko talked with her and Conan had overheard.<br>"Imagine that your opponent is Shinichi-kun," she'd said and Ran had taken her opponent down before they'd had time to react. Conan just hoped that there would be enough contestants for her anger to be quenched a little.

Ran won the tournament and amazed the audience with her knock outs. She proceeded to the Tokyo tournament that would be held the next weekend, and she was still angry.  
>"That was amazing," a male voice came from behind them, and she turned around.<br>"Thanks," Ran mumbled a bit awkwardly and Sonoko studied the man. He had slanted eyes and dark untamed hair. His skin was as bronzed as Hattori's. He was muscular, yet slim, and he reminded Sonoko a bit of Makoto combined with the insecure nervousness of Takagi around Satou. A perfect candidate for project; Ran's new boyfriend.

"I lost somewhere in the middle, but that allowed me to watch you," the man blushed, "your fighting technique and skill is amazing." Sonoko grinned; the teenager was definitely interested in her friend, and Ran was blushing, which was promising. "I was wondering if you would do me the great honour to allow me to train with you, Mouri-sempai!" the man put his hands together in front of his face, "please!"

"Sure," Sonoko jumped into the conversation, "she'd be happy to! But don't expect her to go easy on you just because you're cute!" Makoto didn't move a muscle at his girlfriend's words.  
>"Sonoko!" Ran complained and was grabbed by her friend.<br>"Come on, Ran. Shinichi-kun's gone, and here you have a man who wants you to train him, aah, how romantic! The heroine of the story trains her prince and when she's kidnapped, he rescues her and together they defeat the evil man who stole her," Sonoko whispered to Ran; if she could get them together, maybe sparks would fly.  
>"Mou! Sonoko! That's not realistic," Ran whispered back, and it looked like the man lost his hope.<br>"I'm sorry Mouri-sempai," he said with a sigh, "I didn't expect someone as good as you to want to train with someone like me." Both of the girls watched the sorrowful man speak, and Ran seemed to warm up a little to him.

"No, it's not that," she said and smiled a little, "I'd love to train with you." The man smiled happily.  
>"Great! Thank you so much! I'm Higuchi Isamu, you can call me Isamu-kun," Isamu said and bowed for them.<br>"I'm Sonoko, that is Conan-kun and this is my boyfriend Makoto," Sonoko pointed to Makoto, who blushed a bit. "We're going out to celebrate Ran's victory! Why don't you tag along; you'll need to eat anyway." Sonoko smiled.  
>"I don't want to intrude," Isamu mumbled and ran a hand nervously through his hair.<br>"You won't be intruding! The more the merrier, right?" she said and the man seemed happy.  
>"Then I won't decline! It would be an honour to dine with Mouri-sempai!" Isamu bowed again.<br>"You can call me Ran-san, no need for Mouri-sempai," Ran said with a sad smile and the man repeated her name blushing.

Conan evaluated Isamu, and from that he could tell he was an honest person. According to his clothes and the way he conducted himself, he came from a poor past but must have recently became richer. Isamu had a job on the side of school, yet had high marks, which meant that he was a hard-worker and he was obviously spellbound by Ran. Conan smiled sadly as he came to the conclusion that Isamu would be a good match with Ran, probably better than he would've ever been.

As he watched them speak he found himself wondering. How good would he and Ran actually have been together? They didn't match at all, not compared to them. The only thing Conan and Ran had in common was growing up together. If they hadn't grown up together, they would probably never even have met. Conan loved reading, football, puzzles, including figuring out murderer's tricks, and she loved, he frowned, what did Ran like? Karate, puppies? He mentally sighed, did he even know Ran? The real Ran, who was she? What did she like? He knew that she was patient, loyal, protective and scared of ghosts, but what else did he know about her?

Wasn't love when you wanted to know everything about the other person? Impress them with what they liked? Be in time for dates, because you'd been prepared for it one hour before the set time? When you laugh together? Laughed at nothing and everything? When was the last time he and Ran had laughed, ignoring the fact that he'd been gone for an eternity? How can one love someone they don't know? If he actually didn't love Ran then why did it hurt so much? Conan slowly finished his meal while he was thinking and listening to the group.

* * *

><p>AN: Maybe a bit of a filler  
>The story continues in 12-13, which will be uploaded one day after each other<br>12 was part of 11, but it got strange so I separated them.


	12. As Time Goes By

A/N: Next chapter will be up tomorrow

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

Chapter rating: K+  
>Words: 1,600<br>Revised: 2014-09-15

* * *

><p><strong>Chap. 12<br>As Time Goes By**

Conan sat in the window, watching his 'sister' go to another practice with Isamu, who apparently had promised his very ill brother that he'd win for him next year. Ran wanted to help him so she trained with him as much as she could. Sonoko was delighted, Kogoro was suspicious and Conan was sad but happy for her. She seemed to become more cheerful by helping Isamu, but if it was because she was helping or spending time with him, Conan didn't know, so maybe it was a little of both?

Conan yawned and felt the warmth of a breeze play in his hair; it was definitely becoming summer. He began to close the window when something caught his eyes, a white speck on the opposite building moved. He smiled and ran into the kitchen. The detective took out a plate and broke some bread. He shredded a carrot from the fridge and a sweet potato from yesterday's dinner. Conan took out the cottage cheese, cut small pieces of it and placed it all on the plate.  
>'Quite the treat,' Conan grinned as he ran back to the window and placed the plate in it.<p>

"Michi-chan!" he called out through the window before he ran to get water for the bird. When he placed the water in the window he saw how the dove on the opposite building was polishing its feathers. "Michi-chan!" he waved his arms and frowned; was it a wild dove? Or maybe... "Ky, ko, kaori. Kaoru-chan," Conan mumbled. "Kaoru-chan!" he called out through the window and the dove stopped what it was doing to look at him. "Kaoru-chan, come and have a treat!" the dove flapped its wings and came flying, making Conan fell a strange happy flutter in his chest. "Kaoru-chan, look, I've made you a treat, and I brought you water," Conan smiled as he continued to speak with the dove and pet it as it went for the potato first. He was definitely going to go and buy seeds later.

* * *

><p>Kaito yawned contently where he sat. He had eaten his lunch, peaked into the girls locker room and been hunted with a mop for a prank; the day was fulfilled. He glanced over at the witch with dark purple-reddish hair. She was standing by the door, swarmed by the rest of the male population in the class, chatting quite happily with them and he narrowed his eyes at her. Kaito nodded to himself and got up, poker face in full effect.<br>"Akako-san!" he said loudly, grabbed her arm and whispered in her ear, "can I ask you a question?" She laughed her creepy laugh, which sent cold shivers down Kaito's spine.  
>"Sure you can," Akako said suggestively and waved away the men that wanted to follow them as they walked to her seat, "but I might not answer without a payment."<p>

"You're a witch," Kaito stated frowning as she sat down and he leaned on her bench, "can you curse people?" He raised one eyebrow; everything he did looked theatrical and exaggerated.  
>"Why yes, I can," she chuckled a little, hiding her mouth behind one fist, "anyone in particular you're thinking about?" Kaito grinned, one question answered without charge.<br>"I was thinking," he said and held his hand to his chin, pretending to be thoughtful. "What kind of curses do you do? Do you curse them with," Kaito changed his voice to a typical 'old witch from a movie', "_every firstborn, for seven generations, will die!"_ The magician held out his hand in front of himself like if he was throwing a spell, and earned another creepy laugh from the real witch. _"Or, everyone you love will die a slow and painful death? Or,"_ now it was getting interesting, "_everywhere you go, death shall befall?"_

He saw that she was smiling at him. "So, do you do those kinds of curses? Or are there other witches, _stronger than you_, who do?" Kaito saw how annoyance came over her at the sentence 'stronger than you' and mentally patted himself on his back. "I wouldn't want one of those curses, but they would take a lot of magic power, right? Would those curses need someone stronger than you?" Now her pride had had enough and she glared at the magician.  
>"I am the strongest, no one is stronger than me, and yes, if I wanted, I could do all of what you mentioned," she exclaimed proudly and the magician grinned.<br>"How many witches are there?" he asked interested and she smiled smugly.  
>"That information would cost." The magician pouted.<p>

"Okay, hmm, how about. How many are there that's strong enough to rival you?" he realised that Akako was reaching the end of her patience with his questions.  
>"There are only a few. What is it you really want?" she asked annoyed and Kaito tilted his head at her.<br>"Is it usual for witches to cast a spell where the person is drawn to death?" Akako huffed at his question and glared at him.  
>"No, now go away," she said and shooed him away, and the others that had been standing by the door, glaring at the magician, directly went over to her. Kaito grinned; Tantei-kun might be cursed.<br>'Wonder how one lifts that curse? I don't want to give up my free will for Tantei-kun, so I'll just have to weasel it out of her.'

* * *

><p>Conan felt relieved and oddly at peace, and from time to time he found himself wondering if he finally had moved on, despite that it only had been a month since he'd called, Ran seemed to have. She'd stopped sulking and mourning her loss of Shinichi and actually started laughing again. Ran was happily training with Isamu and she was brighter than Conan had seen her in a long while, happier than she'd ever been with him. Conan sighed; he felt a bit detached from reality. Shinichi had now left his entire life behind him, he'd cut all ties and stopped calling. It didn't stop Conan from wanting to get back to his own life, but the people he'd called his friends began to forget about him and that was an awful feeling; to be forgotten when he was right there. He wanted to get back to pick up the pieces. He wanted to stop hiding and he wanted to be able to walk down the street without fearing that he'd be stepped on.<p>

Conan had finally arrived at a conclusion about the matter of magic. Yes, he was indeed trying to impress the moonlight magician, but he couldn't for the world understand why, just to show him that he was just as good as the thief? He just knew that he had to it, and it took his mind of off his life, which was positive. The detective had even voiced his confusion to Haibara, who had just looked at him like he was a clueless idiot while shaking her head. Conan had submersed himself into magic tricks and his new hobby, 'spot KID's doves, and make friends with them'. Michi was reluctant, she didn't seem to want to get near him too much, which meant that the reason she'd let him pet her was because KID was there with him. Kaoru on the other hand was very social and liked the potato-treat he'd given her. Now, wherever Conan went he had a boiled sweet potato wrapped in plastic in his pocket, and as soon as Conan spotted Kaoru, she flew to him for a treat.

The Detective Boys were fascinated by the dove that from time to time flew to Conan and perched itself on his shoulders, but he never told them that it was KID's dove. Since summer break came he hadn't been able to hide the visiting dove from them. Haibara seemed to have cheered up too, and every time Conan fed the dove or played with a coin, she'd laugh or be near to. Once she suggested that he could try to perform some kind of magic trick involving Kaoru, since she was used to it, and he'd thought it was a great idea. Haibara had broken down laughing and snickered every time she'd seen him the next coming days. Conan was confused by it but decided to file it away under 'The way Haibara works, don't bother'.

* * *

><p>It wasn't until the beginning of June that he finally got a lead on the Black Organisation, but it wasn't really a lead at all, it was more like bad news. Conan had been walking home from his summer lesson with Kobayashi and had been stroking the feathers of Kaoru when his phone rang.<br>"Hello, Cool Guy. Do you know what happens to those who work two jobs?" a smooth voice asked as he answered the phone.  
>"They're disposed of?" it was more of a statement than a question.<br>"Yes, they are." He could hear the smirk in her words.

"What do you want, Vermouth?" the detective asked her frowning.  
>"Humph, all business with you?" she spoke slowly, making Conan annoyed. "Sure, I think I can do that. We'll be running out of a special French cocktail soon. I saved a bit of it for you, but I think you'll want to get it before it's taken away." Conan frowned, a French cocktail, a double-agent. Kir. "You might want to go and play with your friends now," Vermouth said with amusement.<br>"Why are you telling me this?" Conan asked, making Vermouth smirk and chuckle lowly.  
>"One day, Silver Bullet, when the time is right and you are <em>strong enough<em>, I'll tell you. Oh, I'll tell you everything, but for now it's what makes a woman, woman. I'll talk to you soon," there was a click and the phone became silent.  
>'Strong enough, huh?' Conan thought with an annoyed frown, 'when I get back to my old self?'<p> 


	13. The Call of the Crow

A/N: Next chapter, hope you enjoy :)  
>Have a fun April fools' day!<p>

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

Chapter rating: K+  
>Words: 2,700<br>Revised: 2014-09-15

* * *

><p><strong>Chap. 13<br>The Call of the Crow**

"Yes, that's what she said," Conan sighed in the phone for the third time, "Mizunashi Rena has been made."  
>"Why would she tell you that?" Jodie asked curiously.<br>"I don't know, because 'a secret makes a woman, woman'? That's the only reason she gave, who knows what game she's playing," Conan answered and caressed Kaoru.  
>"If it's true then we have to get her out," the agent mumbled, "I have to talk to James and inform the CIA right away. Thank you for calling, Boss." She hung up and he continued to walk on his way home. Jodie might or might not tell him what conclusion they would arrive at, but Mizunashi had to be rescued. Absentmindedly he walked into the agency still wrapped up in his thoughts. Vermouth behaved like she wanted the organisation to be brought down; why else would she warn them about the situation? Conan took out the seeds he'd bought for the dove and watched her eat some. As he went to get it some water it flew up and seated itself on his head, making him snicker.<p>

He was home alone, since Kogoro was away on an adulterer's case and Ran was out with Sonoko. He petted and talked with the dove, but then an idea struck him and he snapped his fingers. The dove went into his clothes, making him tense uncomfortably.  
>'I should have known,' he thought and twitched when the bird moved towards his collar, making scratches on his chest. The detective snapped his fingers again, but nothing happened, Kaoru was still inside his clothes. He frowned in thought and snapped again, nothing. Conan moved around and snapped his fingers, but nothing helped. He threw his arms out, like KID often did and snapped his fingers. Kaoru flew out from underneath his shirt and flew in a circle before seating herself on his shoulder.<br>"Okay, different poses for different birds?" Conan mumbled as his phone rang again.

"I assume you've played with your friends by now? There's something that I want in return," Vermouth said smirking.  
>"Oh, and what is it you want?" he asked, not amused.<br>"The same thing you want, I want _them _gone." Conan narrowed his eyes and waited for her to continue. "The only difference is that I have the evidence, and you're the only one who has the ability to get it from me," Conan felt his heart start to race at her words.  
>"What do you have?" he quickly asked and she laughed.<br>"I want something first, before I hand them over on a silver plate," she said contently.  
>"Get to the point," he murmured annoyed.<br>"I want you and your little friends to take down Gin and Vodka, and Chianti and Korn before I give you the information on every member and action of the organisation," she chuckled coldly, "I've been collecting for some time now."

Conan was clenching into the phone and trying to breathe calmly, but the thought of information on every member and what they had done made him want to jump of joy.  
>"Why? Why are you doing this? Why are you giving me this information? What do you gain?" he heard her snicker softly at his eagerness.<br>"Oh, my lovely Silver Bullet, I get the same thing you get," Vermouth sighed contently, "I get _revenge_. You see, I have the places of where two assassinations are going to happen. I don't know the targets, but I know who will be where, as long as you're still interested in my offer," she murmured in a taunting voice.  
>"Of course I am!" Conan growled in response.<br>"Of course you are," she sounded amused, "Chianti and Korn will position themselves in a building, but in two different rooms. Gin and Vodka will be travelling together, they will enter an apartment building where they are going to meet with their target and make it look like a suicide. Chianti and Korn will of course be shooting theirs, which will be travelling by train." Conan quickly scribbled in his notebook as she spoke. He wrote down the addresses and noted who would be where and what time. "There's one more thing, my Silvery Bullet," she sighed and he stopped to listen, "if this is going to work, you'll have to bring _your other_ _self_ and when we meet, remember that we've never met before," she chuckled amused and hung up on him. The assassination would take place in less than two days, so he didn't have much time.

* * *

><p>"Come on! This can be my only chance to take them down! <em>Our<em> only chance for a very long time!" Conan argued loudly to the very reluctant Haibara, "I need one of the temporary antidotes, it's just _one_!" The shrunken scientist stared at him with cold eyes; she hadn't changed her tone for hours.  
>"This is what could make them find us," she growled at him angrily, "how you can even trust Vermouth is beyond me!"<br>"It's not like I'm going to be alone! FBI will be there and maybe even some CIA agents too," Conan shot back.  
>"And if they see you? And escape? Everyone will be in danger! That includes <em>you<em>, as Conan, _and_ me! And _everyone_! The professor, the kids and their families!" Haibara screamed back. They stood for a while panting from the fierce argument and stared at each other. Their eyes locked and their wills battling, in what would look, to any outsider, like a childish argument.

"I _need_ to be there," Conan broke the silence after a while, his gaze never wavering.  
>"No, <em>you<em> don't," she bit back just as hard as her gaze.  
>"I <em>have<em> to be," the detective glared at her.  
>"No, you don't, <em>you<em> could just call them and tell them what Vermouth told you," Haibara locked like she was clenching her jaw at his unwillingness to back down. They stood there in silence for a long while and Professor Agasa watched them from his workbench.

Conan's eyes suddenly grew gentle. "Please," he begged in a weak voice, "they're the ones who took everything from me, from you, _from_ _us_." Haibara's anger seemed to falter for a bit, she understood that he wanted to be there. _She _wanted to be there when the organisation was brought down. They were the ones that took her life away, that took her sister, that took Kudou's life away. Haibara sighed and crossed her arms in front of her chest.  
>"This is bigger than us…" she mumbled and nodded. "If you get in trouble, run," the scientist said and went to get the antidote.<br>"You should probably call the FBI as Kudou Shinichi, to give them this information. They'll want to know who they're working with," Haibara stated as she came back.

* * *

><p>"Jodie-sensei," a male voice spoke in the phone when she picked up.<br>"Yes?" the woman asked confused, she didn't recognise the voice.  
>"This is Kudou Shinichi, I have information about some alcoholic beverages that you might want to hear about." Jodie Starling became shocked.<br>"What? How? How do you know?" she clicked on the speaker button so that everyone in the meeting room could hear him.  
>"I know of two places where they can be found, just a little over one day from now. Have you ever had a strong mix of Gin and Vodka? Or how about some a nice bottle of Chianti strengthen by the German liquor Korn? Are you interested?"<p>

"We shouldn't talk about alcohol on the phone, wouldn't it be best if we met?" Jodie asked still shocked by the sudden call.  
>"No, we can't meet yet, but I've heard that you're running out of crème de cassis, that's one of the ingredients that makes the best Kir," the male voice continued and Jodie paled.<br>"Who are you?" James asked in a calm voice.  
>"Hello, James Black-san, I'm Kudou Shinichi, detective."<p>

"Wait a minute! Weren't you supposed to go to the same class as Mouri Ran?" Jodie abruptly asked, realising from where she recognised the name.  
>"Yes, that's correct. I had to hide after I collided with a flock of really nasty crows. I would love to shoot them down by myself, but I need your help. Oh, and after we've taken Gin, Vodka, Chianti and Korn, I think I have a way to take the rest. Is it possible to meet tomorrow, but to devise a plan today?" Conan smiled as he spoke in his bowtie and told them of the locations, but he didn't tell them where the information came from.<p>

* * *

><p>Kudou Shinichi stood outside a café waiting for a car to pick him up. Conan had gone on a small trip with his parents, who unexpectedly came to Japan to visit an old friend in the hospital, so professor Agasa had driven him there. Shinichi had just told the FBI where they could pick him up, since he would recognise them. Yesterday had been hectic and Shinichi had brought as many gadgets as he could carry that wasn't too obvious: The watch, the ball belt, the suspenders, the bowtie, the cufflink speakers, a disposable cell, the button speaker, the glasses, which he hid in his pocket and a gun that he bought behind the shopping mall, it wasn't like he could bring his father's, that gun could be tracked by <em>them<em>.

Haibara had mounted him with every transmitter she could find and he had used every single stud that they had made. This was it, the Black Organisation was going down, and Shinichi would be lying if he said that he wasn't nervous. The adrenalin and joy that had been pumping through him had made him unable to sleep. They were going to be free; no more looking over the shoulder, no more terror of being found, no more danger for everyone they cared about. He took the antidote just before he left and became himself once more.

A car parked not too far from him and the driver, James Black, looked around the parking lot. Shinichi walked up to the car and got in behind him. Jodie was sitting to his right and the detective smiled at her.  
>"Hello, Jodie-sensei," he said and James pulled out from the parking. They asked him many questions and he answered as honestly as he could. Shinichi told them of how Gin had drugged him with a lethal poison and left him to die, but he only told them that the poison hadn't worked the way it should've and he survived with some side effects. However, the detective refused to say what kind of side effects.<p>

As they got out of the car Jodie stared at him. He could see her eyes narrow as her gaze travelled from his shoes to his head and back again.  
>"Are you any good with a gun?" James asked interested and he nodded.<br>"Yes, I'm very good, without exaggerating, and I have one with me," he said honestly, he could hit pretty much whatever he pointed a gun at.  
>"Are you by any way related to a kid by the name of Edogawa Conan?" Jodie asked and looked at him. Shinichi couldn't help but smile, was he related to himself? No, one can't be a relative of oneself.<br>"You have sharp eyes, Jodie-sensei," he said, not really answering the question and allowed her to form her own conclusion. The apartment complex was worn down and mostly empty so positioning agents on three floors was simple. They waited and Shinichi was mostly quiet. According to the FBI, Kir had been saved in the last moment and gone into hiding with the help of her colleagues at the CIA.

"A black Porsche 356A has pulled to the side just outside the apartment complex you're in," an FBI agent called through the radio. "Gin and Vodka are exiting," there was silence for a while. "They're just standing there, smoking by the car. They look like they're waiting for something, maybe an exact time," the man informed.  
>"Second and third team have visual on the other two, they're entering their building," James informed them and then smiled at Shinichi, "it looks like your information is correct."<p>

"They're on the move," the FBI agent informed them, "Gin and Vodka just entered the apartment building." Shinichi gritted his teeth and calmed his breathing, adrenalin was pumping through his body and he smiled.  
>'Revenge,' his brain pleasantly murmured and he concentrated on controlling his shaking hands by gripping harder into the gun.<br>"Aniki, is this really wise?" Shinichi could hear Vodka's voice through the door as they were walking up the stairs.  
>"Shut it," Gin's cold voice answered, "it's Anokata's order." They both became quiet and continued to climb the next flight of stairs. Shinichi let out a breath of air that he didn't know he'd been holding.<br>"They moved past us," a whispered mumble came in the radio from the team on the floor above them.  
>"A black truck stopped just outside and is backing towards the entrance," the FBI agent in the building on the other side of the road informed quietly. "Two men in caps are opening the cargo door."<p>

"They are standing on the third floor," the leader of three agents quietly murmured into the radio. "They're doing something in front of the room next door, I can't see clearly." James nodded and Jodie opened the door. They sneaked out from the room and began to climb the stairs when muffled explosions sounded throughout the building. Thick smoke seemed to appear from nowhere and Shinichi covered his mouth.  
>"Something explo-nnne," a thud from a body was heard over the detective's earpiece, and he frowned; it was sleeping gas. Two thuds around him informed him that the FBI agents also had fallen asleep. Because of the many Kaitou KID heists, every time there was smoke, he stopped breathing. He hadn't taken a breath yet and his lungs began to pound, demanding air and his head was slowly starting to hurt. He should have brought the air tank. It was bad; he had to run, but he couldn't just leave the agents. Shinichi slowly moved for the door and the smoke started to clear, but his body demanded air so he involuntarily took a breath and slowly fell asleep as two shadows detached from the door started to move towards him.<p>

* * *

><p>Shinichi became awake, but he didn't open his eyes, and he strained his ears. Deep breaths from sleeping people, nothing else. He could feel metal chains around his wrists and he was sitting with his back against a cold stone wall. A strange scent was all around him, sweet and metallic, blood, the smoke from a cigarette and something else that he couldn't quite figure out. Shinichi opened his eyes and forcefully jolted back against the wall. His eyes locked with Gin's, and the murderer did not look happy. Gin's eyes narrowed and the detective hardened his gaze.<br>"Kudou Shinichi," the cold and smooth voice said slowly, "I killed you." Movement from the other side of the room made Gin break the contact, allowing Shinichi to also look away. Jodie and James were looking at them and Gin sent them a bored stare before going back to study at the supposedly dead person in front of him.

"You're like a cockroach; it doesn't matter if one kills you, you'll just show up again," Gin sounded a bit amused, "which means that I can enjoy killing you again, and this time I'll make sure you're dead. I'll make sure it's slow too," he murmured and grinned coldly. Shinichi saw with horror how Gin's hands wrapped themselves around his neck and felt how his air supply was cut. His arms were tied in front of him and didn't help much. He tried to kick the man but Gin only held him down with one leg. Shinichi struggled and tried to get out from his grasp, but it was no use. Gin was too strong and he was shackled. He felt like Conan all over again, completely helpless and at the mercy of whoever was around. His sight grew dark and he was allowed to take a couple of breaths before Gin continued to strangle him. He somehow caught a glance of Jodie before losing his eyesight again, she looked confused and worried. Shinichi felt how his lungs ached and he tried to take a breath. He gasped for air, but Gin wouldn't let him have it and he doubled his struggling, making the murderer chuckle coldly.


	14. In the Crows' Nest

A/N: Reviews appreciated

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

Uploaded: 2012-04-03  
>Revised: 2014-09-15<br>Chapter rating: K+  
>Words: 2,800<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Chap. 14<br>In the Crows' Nest**

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," a voice sang through the darkness and Gin released Shinichi's neck from his grasp. The detective gasped for air and coughed.  
>"Mind telling me why?" Gin asked icy and stared up at the woman, standing in the door-opening. "Well, <em>you're<em> the one who killed him with the poison," she snickered, "and yet he's alive. What do you think Anokata will say about that? Boss would like to know _how_, but how will the little scientists figure it out if you killed their lab rat?" Shinichi recognised Vermouth's voice as he started to breathe a little slower; she'd just saved his life after louring him into a trap. What _the_ _hell _was she playing at?

"Besides, he knows where Sherry is," Vermouth added nonchalantly and leaned against the doorframe.  
>"What?" Gin roared in ire and struck Shinichi in his stomach, making him double over and cough. Shinichi changed his mind as he sank down to the floor; Vermouth was just prolonging the torture. The teenager was suddenly lifted up from the ground in his collar.<br>"Where is she?" Gin growled lowly and Shinichi grinned.  
>"Wouldn't you like to know," he said tauntingly and chuckled, the lack of air had made him high. Gin slammed him hard into the wall.<br>"I promise you that you'll tell me, once I'm done with you," he murmured and Shinichi finally got his senses back.  
>"I very much doubt that," he answered darkly and stared directly into the murderer's eyes.<p>

"Well aren't you a cute one," Vermouth snickered and walked down the few stone steps. She observed Shinichi in an interested manner. "You know, Gin, I think I'll convince Anokata to let me have him before you, if the scientists don't want a lab rat," Vermouth said with a smirk and Gin turned around to face her with an irritated scowl. "There aren't many cute boys in a place like this, and you can always kill him later," she waved her hand and Gin only stared.  
>"Aniki!" Vodka showed up in the doorway, "the boss wants to talk to you." Gin glared as he walked past the woman and Shinichi leaned against the wall. A thought sneaked past him and he jerked his head down to look at his watch, it showed half past nine. Shinichi frowned, was it night or day? Did he have fifteen or three hours left? They had taken his gun, but they didn't know about Agasa's inventions, could they escape?<p>

Two hands were suddenly placed on the wall on each side of his head and he looked up. Vermouth was leaning close to him, much closer than what was comfortable and she smiled slyly.  
>"You know," she purred and her eyes wandered between his eyes and his lips, "we can do anything we please in this building." The woman leaned in closer and Shinichi turned his face away. He was clenching his jaws, and glaring at her. "No recordings," the words left her lips in a silent breath, he could barely hear her. "We can do <em>exactly<em> what we want," she said louder and grabbed his jaw with a predatory smile. "And as things are _right now_, not even your cute Ghost Shadow would be able to get out," Vermouth brushed a wisp of hair behind his ear and Shinichi felt how she placed something there. "Well, maybe if you were a lively _little_ spirit."

"Anokata, won't allow such behaviour," Gin stated coldly, Shinichi hadn't even realised that he'd been watching them from the door and Vermouth pulled away from him.  
>"Oh, and that comes from the one who <em>killed <em>him," she threw a glance towards the detective as she walked up the steps, "or failed to do so." Gin grew angry and glared at the woman who was walking towards him. "See you after dinner, my lovely detective," she smiled at him as she closed the steel door. As soon as it was closed he frowned and examined what she'd put behind his ear, it was a sample of APTX 4869.

Shinichi looked around the room and suddenly everything she'd said made sense, in a strange twisted way. She'd been talking about a ghost shadow, a ghost is also known as a phantom, and he knew a phantom called KID that had been shadowing him. In order to escape he had to be a lively little spirit, a little phantom, a little kid in other words. He had to bring his other self, so when he took the drug, the shackles would be too big for him and he could escape. When they met, he had to pretend that they'd never met.

The detective's eyes fastened on a small air drum close to the floor and he measured it with his eyes. It would be big enough for him to crawl through once he'd taken the poison. He didn't need to worry about security tapes since there were 'no recordings' and he had, Shinichi glanced to his watch again, at least seven hours before anyone would notice that he was missing. He had six hours to find Vermouth's information and one hour to get the FBI agents out, or should he make that five and two hours?  
>"-udou, Kudou!" Jodie raised her voice, making Shinichi snap out of his thoughts and stare at her.<br>"Yes?"

"What was that all about?" James asked and Jodie sighed.  
>"Vermouth gave me a way out," Shinichi answered and stared at the poison, would a second dose kill him?<br>"What?" Jodie said and shook her head, "what did she give you?"  
>"Apoptoxin 4869; the lethal poison that should've killed me," he said in a thoughtful voice.<br>"You're not going to take it, are you?" Jodie whispered and Shinichi smiled at her.  
>"Yes, I am." His answer made her widen her eyes.<br>"Are you really hiding a member by the codename Sherry?" James asked interested.  
>"Yes." The agents threw a glance at each other.<br>"Then you're really not one of them?" James asked and the teenager shook his head.  
>"But you're the one that lured us into the trap," Jodie muttered and he shook his head again.<br>"I was also tricked," he mumbled and studied the agents. Jodie and James were awake, while the other six agents were still firmly asleep.

"This drug has a _strange_ side effect," Shinichi informed the FBI agents and send a hard kick at the air vent's opening. It came loose and he tore of the arm of his shirt while the agents stared at him in confusion.  
>"Are you really going to take the easy way out?" Jodie mumbled and Shinichi shook his head.<br>"If this thing kills me, then I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused you, if this works, you gets to thank me," he said while twisting the piece of cloth and bit into it, he couldn't allow himself to yell. He took it out of his mouth and sat down against the wall. "Um," he said, trying to find an excuse for the FBI agents to close their eyes, "this might be a bit, _disturbing_."

Shinichi swallowed the drug and sank his teeth into the twisted cloth, waiting for the pain to begin. The FBI agents could after only a few moments see him grab into his shirt above his heart and keel over in pain. They heard a muffled scream and saw how the body seemed to disappear into the clothes.  
>"What is going on?" Jodie mumbled wide-eyed and stared at the buckle in the clothes.<br>"To answer your question from before," a child's voice came from the bundle of clothes and Conan's head popped up from the collar as he pulled it down, "no, I'm not related to Edogawa Conan." Jodie and James gaped as Edogawa Conan slipped out from the shackles and started to fold up the ends of his clothing.

"I-Impossible," Jodie gasped as Conan stood up and pulled up the glasses from his breast pocket.  
>"You'd think that, yes," he mumbled annoyed and made the suspenders the correct length. He frowned worriedly, he didn't have his kick enhancing shoes so he'd have to depend on his ability to hide, which had honestly never been that great.<br>"How is it possible?" James mumbled, just as awestruck as Jodie.  
>"Sherry could explain that," he said and put his socks in his pocket. "If you'll excuse me, I need to get going, I'll come back for you later," Conan smiled and crawled into the small air vent; he was going to find the evidence that Vermouth had and he was going to bring them down. He heard a click and glanced backwards, Jodie had attached the grid over the air vent.<br>"We'll be counting you, Boss," she said with a faint smile and turned her back against it.

He crawled through the tunnel and to his confusion there was a note in the middle of it, stuck to a small toy car, which he assumed that Vermouth had planted.  
>"<em>Well done my Silvery Bullet, I see that I've fired you in the right direction. Now you shall go straight for the heart and take this big bad werewolf down."<br>_He snorted at the note and turned it over; there was a map on the back, showing him where to go.

* * *

><p>Conan breathed heavily as he slowly climbed upwards in the air vent. He needed to get up one more floor, go straight for five rooms and turn right, there he would find an elevator, which she'd 'prepared' for him. As he was crawling over the grid of an air vent he looked down. Scientists were sitting by microscopes, computers and standing by devices that he didn't even know what function they had. He glanced to the right, almost underneath him, and he narrowed his eyes. Conan recognised the shape of the words and activated the telescopic lenses. He held his breath as he zoomed in and smiled. The name "APTX 4869" was scribed on every vial and every box in the locked refrigerator; he would need to come back to steal some of that. He licked his lips in anticipation and continued on his way as quietly as he could.<br>'Information first, poison second,' he thought as he reached the elevator and realised why Vermouth had written 'prepared for you' on the map.

She had drawn wires to the roof of the elevator and put small numbers on each of them, so all he had to do was connect them to make it move to that floor. The words 'meticulous planner' entered Conan's thoughts as he realised what Vermouth had done. She'd given them a heads up on the undercover problem; did she cause that problem in the first place? That action had gained more of Conan's trust, making her able to lure him into the trap, not that she hadn't been able to do that anyway. Dangling the Black Organisation in front of his nose would probably make him run off a cliff if that had been what she wanted. Vermouth must have convinced Anokata to use her plan in order to, for some reason, capture the FBI. She'd prepared which cell would be theirs, stolen APTX 4869, drawn a map on a piece of paper and placed it on a radio-controlled car, which she'd driven into the air vent. Vermouth had even redrawn the electricity in the elevator and made so that she would go unnoticed.

Conan connected two wires and the elevator started to move to the 12th floor. He sighed and tried to relax, but he was inside their building. That did they do there? Were there only BO-members there or were there people unknowingly working for them? His heart pounded hard and questions spun in his head as he reached the floor and crawled back into the air vents' network. Adrenalin rushed through him as he reached the room with the computer. Conan looked down and studied every nick of the room.

It was a small room and there was a computer on a desk in front of the two windows.  
>'Probably prepared by Vermouth,' Conan thought as he saw that two small USB-sticks were laid beside the computer monitor. He silently opened the grid and placed it inside the air vent. He was quiet and he could hear speech from somewhere and a low laugh from another direction. The detective took of the suspenders and folded the end into a hole in the air vent's opening. He clicked the other end shut, placed his foot into the loop and pushed the button. Conan travelled downwards and reached the floor. He quickly made his way to the computer and turned it on; he needed to check so that the information really was on the sticks and not in the computer.<p>

Conan froze in panic as he heard steps outside the room, but they passed the door and he relaxed. He tried to breathe calmly but the adrenalin made him twitchy and impatient; he didn't want anyone to come in and find him and mess up Vermouth's plan.  
>"Come on, start-start-start," he mumbled quickly and tapped his foot noiselessly. When the computer finally started Conan wanted nothing else but to hit his head in the desk; it was secured with a password. He gritted his teeth and jumped up on the chair with a mute sigh, which was more of an angry roar in his head; he had to hack the damnable thing.<p>

Conan fingers flew over the keyboard as he tried to get around the password, all the while his eyes were stuck to the screen and his ears were strained. He mouthed mute curses at the computer and the organisation for their annoying passwords. He hissed at the screen and gritted his teeth. When he finally got around it, no more than five minutes had passed, but the adrenalin sang in his blood, making his hands tremble and his jaw had started to hurt from biting. Conan threw his arms up in the air, screaming 'yes!' inside his head and quickly reached out for one of the USB-sticks, but before he could reach it a hand covered his mouth.  
>"My my, what a bad boy you are," he heard a man chuckle silently and the detective's eyes widened. "I've never seen a child hack a computer before, but that was right out scary," Conan relaxed and sighed annoyed as he recognised the voice.<p>

The man behind him released him when he relaxed and Conan took the USB-stick after throwing an angry glare at him.  
>"What, <em>the<em> _hell,_ are you doing here KID?" Conan whispered and plugged the USB-stick in the computer. The child threw another glance behind him; one window was now slightly ajar. "Did anyone see you?" he quickly hissed at the white-clad thief and turned his eyes back to the screen.  
>"No one saw me. Why are you here?" KID mumbled and looked at the screen. The USB-stick had indeed a lot of information on it, and shrunken teenager quickly glanced over it; Personnel and employee information, duties, tools, fees, everything was there and Conan smiled.<br>"Tantei-kun," the thief gasped when he saw the list of assignments, which mostly consisted of assassinations and extortions, "what in the world are you involved in?"

"None of your business," Conan whispered, pocketed the USB-sticks and shut off the computer. "Why are you here anyway? There's _no_ _way_ in _hell _that you could have followed me," Conan hissed quickly and wiped away all fingerprints from the keyboard.  
>"Language," KID mumbled and watched the child, "you're too young to be swearing. I got a message that you probably was in trouble. Why are we whispering?" Conan wiped the desk frowning and shook his head.<br>"If someone comes through that door," he nodded towards the door, "they'll shoot us both as soon as they see us, and then they'll track down our families, and kill them too, and maybe even our closest friends just to be on the safe side."

"Wait, what? You got a message?" Conan quietly asked and stared into KID's infamous poker face. "No, we can't talk here," the child walked to the suspenders that were still hanging from the ceiling, "the air vents up here is big enough to fit you, so we'll talk there." As Conan whispered he stepped into the loop of the suspenders and pressed the button to be lifted. He climbed into the air vent and glared down on the smiling thief. KID swiftly jumped up on the computer desk and Conan moved to give him place. White gloves were quickly followed by a hat as the thief entered the air vent.

"You're as nimble as a cat," Conan mumbled annoyed as KID placed the grid back in the air vent.  
>"And you don't have any shoes," the thief sneered and watched Conan twitch. "Say please, and you can get one pair richer," KID's grin widened as he pulled out Conan's shoes from nowhere.<br>"How? Why?" Conan breathed and gaped; why was the thief walking around with his shoes?  
>KID handed him the shoes with a pleased grin and Conan pulled them on; now he wasn't defenceless anymore.<br>"Four hours," the child mumbled when he looked at his watch. "Explain yourself KID, why are you here and why do you have my shoes?"


	15. At the End of the Rope

A/N: I'll put up the next chapter sooner

Warnings:  
>Strange English, Haibara is very OOC<p>

Uploaded: 2012-04-08  
>Revised: 2014-09-15<br>Chapter rating: K+  
>Words: 2,800<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Chap. 15<br>At the End of the Rope**

Haibara paced in the laboratory, her heart was racing and she was worried sick. She stopped and looked at the disposable cell, Kudou-kun had missed his check-in. Sure he could just be really wrapped up in the case, but when the evening came creeping and he still hadn't called back she was so worried that she almost cried. The shrunken scientist took up the phone and dialled his disposable cell, there was the waiting signal and then the phone connected. Silence, but she could hear something faint so she hung up and unplugged its battery. In frustration she threw the phone into the wall and gritted her teeth. Kudou-kun must have been taken by them and she ran to her desk. The old glasses were snatched out of the drawer and she activated the tracking device; it had been a trap and she'd let him waltz right into it. She knew that if they had him, she'd never be able to find him.

She trembled as she pulled in her hair while fright and anxiety got the best of her, making her crawl into a corner. It was only a matter of time before they found her now. They had Kudou-kun and were probably torturing him. She'd known that it was a trap; it had been too convenient. When Kudou-kun changed back, they would know and they would come looking for her, and they wouldn't care if they found her or not, they would kill Hakase and the kids, they would kill everyone that had a connection to them.

The girl forced herself up and went into the kitchen. Agasa looked at her concerned as she tried to pour herself some calming tea and spilled. He helped her and wiped away the spilled tea while he watched how she swallowed the hot liquid in one gulp. Haibara sighed and started to pace in the living room instead, not knowing what to do with herself.  
>"Maybe you can relax if you go out into the sun?" Agasa said concerned and she nodded. Haibara went out into the sun and started to pace in the yard instead of in the house, but her pacing became slower as the wind calmed her until she stopped completely and only felt the wind in her hair.<p>

A group of laughing children ran past the gates, followed by two talking adults. The man said something that made the woman laugh, and to Haibara it was surreal. There were people who wasn't aware, who didn't know and who wasn't hunted by them. People who could laugh and didn't have to worry that they might get their loved ones killed. She'd wanted that so strongly that she'd let Kudou-kun walk into that trap.

The sun was setting, colouring the sky orange and red. She stared at it, losing herself in its beauty. It could be the last sunset she would ever see, because tomorrow after noon Kudou-kun would become Edogawa-kun and their battle would be lost. She turned sad eyes to the house and went inside to get the glasses.  
>"Hakase," she mumbled as she watched him work on another of his visions. "I'm going out to walk for a bit, I'm taking these glasses with me." Agasa looked concerned and she smiled a sad smile. "I think Kudou-kun has been taken by them, but the transmitters won't work inside their buildings, they have frequency disrupters, but I still want to go and look for him."<br>"Don't give up on him just yet, he's good at what he does. Do you want to go driving around Tokyo, to see if you find him?" the professor asked concerned and she nodded.  
>"Sure, but we won't find him, not even if we had batteries enough to drive until tomorrow, Tokyo's too big."<p>

They drove for hours, and when the batteries in the glasses had run out Agasa had also managed to convince her that she shouldn't run. The worry had drained Haibara's body, making her fall into a restless sleep and she woke up in her bed only a couple of hours later, just as exhausted as before.

When Agasa woke up, she was pacing in the living room again, not knowing exactly how long she'd been doing it. Haibara sighed and looked at the clock, it was nine.  
>"Hakase, I'm going to buy an ice cream," she said and grabbed her wallet with a sigh. "My last ice cream," she mumbled as she walked out through the door.<p>

* * *

><p>Haibara sat on a bench with a soft ice cream in her hand; she didn't feel like eating it, but she tasted it and decided to throw it away. A cooing came from above her and she stopped for a moment. She looked up and saw a single white dove looking down at her.<br>"Kaoru-chan? Michi-chan?" she asked loudly and broke a piece from the cone. Haibara held it in her hand and the dove flew to her. The scientist stared blankly at the dove and pulled out a thread from her clothing and took up the receipt from her pocket. She wrote a line on the back of it and stopped for a moment, what should she write? Please help me? Haibara sighed in frustration, was she going to gamble the thief's life to? The very thief that the clueless detective had fallen for? Kudou would never forgive her if he survived with the thief's death on his conscience.

She stared deadpanned at the note; _that_ was the most ridiculous message she'd ever seen. The shrunken teen shook her head and rolled it; this was no time to be picky. She tied the thread around it and through it and then to the dove's leg. She frowned as she stared at the small thing that was attached to its other leg; it looked like a tiny bag.  
>"Fly to your master," she said and the dove stared at her. "Go home," Haibara said a little louder and frowned. "Fly to Kaitou-," the dove flew of her hand before she had time to finish the sentence. "-KID," she mumbled and watched the dove disappear into the sky.<p>

* * *

><p>"Come on Hakuba! It was just a joke, relax!" Kaito laughed, switching Aoko's and Hakuba's clothes had been hilarious, even though it wasn't actually Aoko's real clothes, just something similar. "BaKaito! It wasn't funny!" Aoko roared at him making him laugh even louder, "if you continue like this I'll show you the picture I took of yesterday's dinner before it was cooked!" Kaito paled and stopped laughing with a whine; that sentence could only mean that she'd actually eaten one of the dumb empty-eyed staring wide-gaping evil-smelling thingies from the sea.<br>"That's so disgusting," he mumbled to himself and stared at her.  
>"Why did we have to come here so early? We could have come here in one hour instead," Hakuba muttered and threw a glance at his watch. "It is currently; 2 hours, 27 minutes, 47 seconds, and 15 milliseconds until Tropical Land opens," Hakuba informed the others and sighed.<br>"Let's have ice cream!" the magician grinned and ran to the ice cream shop that they'd already visited once, 9 minutes, 15 seconds and 56 milliseconds ago.

Kaito was happily eating his second ice cream when a speck of white in the sky caught his eyes; it was a dove. The magician frowned as he saw another bird show up and the dove span around in the air, narrowly avoiding capture.  
>"Kaoru!" Kaito yelled and waved an arm, drawing attention from everyone around them, and both Hakuba and Aoko followed his gaze.<br>"That's a juvenile goshawk," the detective stated and stared at the scene.  
>"Come on Kaoru! It's just a little hawk!" Kaito cheered loudly and grinned as the dove spun around in the air, making the hawk miss it again and flew towards him. The young hawk did not give up and quickly came up behind Kaoru. The dove reached for its bag and here was a puff of smoke in the air, the hawk was turned pink. Kaoru went into a thick hedge not far from her laughing owner and the hawk gave up.<p>

Kaito chuckled as the dove seated itself on his shoulder and the hawk flew away. "And that's why you shouldn't mess with a magician's pet!" he yelled loudly after the now pink hawk, making Aoko rub her face in annoyance, pretending that she didn't know the idiot that was yelling at the sky. "Kaoru-chan, why are you here, weren't you supposed to do something else?" Kaito cooed lovingly to the dove and took it of his shoulder. He noticed a rolled up paper tied to her leg and frowned.

"Hakuba, hold this," Kaito handed over his ice cream to the curious detective that had sneaked closer as soon as he'd seen the note. "Well done Kaoru-chan," the magician mumbled as both his companions moved closer. Kaito took the small note and glared at them suspiciously. "What if it's a personal note to me?" the magician asked and hid it in his hands, knowing that Kaoru had been following Tantei-kun, but they only looked at him with anticipation.  
>"Oh, really? Is it a letter for Kaitou KID?" Hakuba smirked and Kaito sighed as he rolled it open.<br>"Why would my lovely Kaoru-cha-" Kaito stopped as he glanced to the note and froze.

"_Dear Kaitou KID-san  
>I beg of you, please help me.<br>As soon as Conan is found out, they will come for his family and friends.  
>They kill everyone, and only extremely adept people survive.<br>Therefore, I have no one else but you to turn to._

_Haibara Ai"_

Hakuba saw how the colour drained from the magician's face and Kaito looked terrified, thinking that Tantei-kun had gone after his organisation.  
>"Keep the ice cream, Hakuba. I have to go," Kaito said and ran away before the others had time to protest.<p>

* * *

><p>Haibara sat in the couch twitching by every sound; it was too early for <em>them<em> to come but that didn't stop her from watching the door with a wary eye. The not-child was hugging her legs and trembling. A small noise was heard and she jolted her head towards it, and screamed before her brain had processed who it was.  
>"Ojou-san," KID said and watched the terrified person.<br>"K-KID, idiot, you scared me," she mumbled in a weak voice and started to stare at the door again.  
>"Sit down," she nodded to the couch beside herself, "they have him, I'm certain of it. I placed a lot of hidden transmitters on him, but I can't find him with the tracking glasses." Haibara took up the glasses from the table and handed them over to the thief. "They are now fully recharged," she twitched as KID's hand was laid on her shoulder.<p>

"Ai-kun!" Agasa called out as he came running up from the basement and gaped when he saw the thief.  
>"It's okay Hakase, I'm sorry I screamed," Agasa stared at the thief, that had unnoticeably tensed. "I need to speak a little with Kaitou KID," she said and to the thief's surprise the professor just nodded and walked back into the basement. KID studied the glasses for a while and did something to them, she could see it out of the corner of her eyes, but she refused to let her gaze travel too far from the door.<p>

"What are you afraid of, little Ojou-san?" Haibara threw a glance on the thief that held in a device with antennas.  
>"Not as much death as pain and torture," she mumbled, "they're going to kill everyone who has a little connection to-," Haibara stopped the sentence, she couldn't tell KID <em>that<em>, she couldn't tell him that it was _her_ fault. "Edogawa-kun gave me freedom, Agasa-hakase gave me a home and a family, the Detective Boys gave me friends." She let out a shaky breath and bit her lip. "They will kill everyone if they find out about Edogawa-kun," she whispered and KID tilted his head.  
>"You're like Tantei-kun, aren't you?" She nodded, not even caring if he was guessing that they were geniuses or if Kudou-kun had told him the truth.<p>

"Listen Kaitou KID-san," she mumbled with a sigh, "if you find Edogawa-kun and they see you, they won't hesitate to shoot."  
>The thief chuckled, "I'm a phantom, they can't kill me." Haibara grabbed into his arm.<br>"Don't," she said serious and her eyes conveyed her true age, "the moment you underestimate them, you're dead. They are not your normal taskforce. They are trained murderers and if you're seen, you won't live through the next heist, you would make a lovely target for Chianti and Korn. They wouldn't even hesitate to blow up the entire building, with you, the taskforce or any other person inside."

KID frowned mentally frowned, Chianti was a wine but he had never heard of Korn.  
>"Vermouth," KID said tryingly and watched how the child tensed up and slowly turned terrified eyes towards him.<br>"Y-you, no, you can't be one of them," she began but he shook his head with a reassuring smile.  
>"No, Tantei-kun mentioned the name once, and you are the child of one of their members?" KID guessed and Haibara sighed, the thief was good.<br>"I'm the child of two scientists that were murdered by the organisation, and I escaped after Gin killed my sister."

KID was doing something with whatever he was holding in again and she sighed.  
>"They have been killing off quite a few high-ranking members lately, and the most dangerous ones are; Gin, Vodka, Vermouth, Chianti, Korn and Bourbon, whom I've never met. They are Anokata's favourite pawns, with which the boss controls the entire organisation, there are of course more of them, but they are Anokata's most trusted. Gin is one of the smartest and coldest, Korn is calm, Chianti is a bit too excited when she gets to kill someone, Vodka isn't as bright as the usual members, but he's Gin's assistant and follows him like a faithful dog, and Vermouth is as good at disguising as you are, if not better, she does whatever she pleases because she's Anokata's absolute favourite. She lured Edogawa-kun into a trap, together with the FBI." KID picked up a small laptop from somewhere and attached the radio he'd been using.<p>

"If you disguise, stay away from Gin, he wouldn't hesitate to shoot you as soon as he felt that something was off, he has killed his own partners a couple of times. If you are to survive, you'll need to rely on staying hidden, not disguising. There's something else I need to tell you," she mumbled with a sigh, "how much have Edogawa-kun told you?" KID threw her a glance as the program tracked the transmitters.  
>"Not much, only that he lives under an alias," the program found the source and he smiled.<br>"How?" Haibara breathed and stared at the screen.  
>"Oh, I just picked out the buildings with frequency jammers, eliminated police stations and searched for the signal, my program is much better than anything that exists on the market," KID grinned at her, obviously proud and she nodded.<p>

"Okay, um, what I was saying. If you find Kudou Shinichi in their building then Edogawa-kun is safe, but if you find Edogawa-kun you won't have to search for Kudou-kun," KID stared at her, what she said didn't make much sense.  
>"What does one have to do with the other?"<br>"That is not for me to tell," Haibara shook her head, "do you know what Kudou Shinichi looks like?" she asked making KID laugh.  
>"Yes, I know what he looks like, I've disguised as him. Was that all the important information?" the thief folded the laptop and got up.<br>"Right, I forgot, um, yes, that's the important information. You should take these with you, if you find Edogawa-kun," the little girl handed him the power enhancing shoes, "and don't you dare to die, he would never forgive me if you did." KID looked confused, but nodded.  
>"I'm not planning on dying, and I'll be careful." She watched how he disappeared out the window and Haibara prayed that she had made the right decision.<p>

* * *

><p>Conan stared at the thief when he'd explained. There was a long silence as the detective thought it over.<br>"Okay," Conan mumbled slowly, "I guess that there is no way that I can get rid of you?" KID shook his head. "Then you have to change into something less obvious," KID dropped a silent smoke bomb and when the smoke cleared a grinning Hakuba Saguru appeared before him.  
>"How disturbing," Conan mumbled as a shiver went through him. It was something so terribly wrong to see KID's mischievous eyes and confident grin in Hakuba's face. The child sighed in annoyance but when a thought hit him he flashed KID malevolent smirk, surpassing even the thief's own. "Then why don't <em>I<em> get _you_ to do what you do _best_," KID mentally frowned at the child, he looked utterly evil.


	16. Joined Forces

A/N: Thank you so much for reviewing, I love reviews! :D

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

Uploaded: 2012-04-10  
>Revised: 2014-09-15<br>Chapter rating: T  
>Words: 3,100<p>

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><p><strong>Chap. 16<br>Joined Forces **

The sound of a window closing made them both look down into the room. Conan saw Vermouth smile as she turned around to walk out and he sent the thief an annoyed glance; he'd forgotten to close the window. The detective tapped a finger in the air vent, causing KID to tense up and look at him like he was crazy.  
>"Vermouth," Conan whispered and the woman walked over to the wall, just underneath the opening.<br>"Cool Guy, you have what you need," she said and leaned her back on the wall.  
>"Can you disguise as her?" Conan voiced so silently that the thief barely heard him. KID studied the woman's face and hair, and nodded.<p>

"Give yourself an alibi," the detective told her and she chuckled a bit.  
>"So your lovely Ghost Shadow is here?" Vermouth said amused, "I have a meeting to attend with the boss." She pushed off the wall with a smirk. "Oh," she began and stopped, "and housetrain him, will you? I don't want him peeing on my expensive carpet again," she chuckled and left, leaving a confused KID and a not-amused Conan. The thief sent him a blank stare and he sighed.<br>"She calls you Ghost Shadow, because you're a _phantom_ thief and _stalking_ me, and how she knows that, I don't even think I want to know," he explained, "and she means that we can't afford any screw ups, like leaving the window open. You, being like an inexperienced puppy in dealing with them and peeing on the carpet." KID did not look amused after his statement, but pulled out another mask.

KID changed the mask slightly and pulled it over his head, changing from Hakuba Saguru to Vermouth. It took him twenty minutes to make himself look exactly like her, from the face and hair to the clothes and body structure. After a while of small talking the detective suddenly realised why the thief was sending him worried and pained looks, and it took him a while to convince KID that he hadn't been 'touched' by anyone. Conan could however not explain why or whose clothes he was wearing, but told KID to leave it at that and continued to describe Vermouth's personality.

The detective watched with fascination how KID made his new outfit from an old one and then changed his voice; it was incredible.  
>"So, tell me Cool Guy, what is it that you want me to do?" the fake Vermouth whispered and Conan grinned.<br>"I want you to walk into a room and steal a couple of boxes and a couple of glass bottles labelled 'APTX 4869' for me," the child beamed happily and the thief raised an eyebrow. "Vermouth does whatever she feels like, so you can walk into that room and just take them without explaining, and if someone demands an explanation you just say 'a secret makes a woman, woman' in English or tell them that it's Anokata's order."

"What is APTX 4869?" KID wondered and slightly tilted his head.  
>"It's a poison, very lethal," the child mumbled darkly, "with annoying side effects if it doesn't kill you." He dug around in his pocket, pulled out the button speaker and handed it to the thief. "Take this and put it somewhere close to your ear," Conan lowered the volume so that it could barely be heard. KID took it with a nod and placed it inside the wig. With a flick of his wrist he was holding into an earpiece and handed it to the child.<br>"Now we'll be able to communicate both ways," the teenager smiled and Conan took it.  
>"Do you have any sleeping gas? Like that egg-ting you threw to take down Hakuba?" KID's smile morphed into a mischievous grin and he pulled out three eggs.<p>

"What do you want? Silent or a bang?" he asked making Conan give him one of Haibara's 'are you an idiot'-glares. "The silent one it is," KID said and folded his hand to a fist, when he opened it, he held in two identical eggs. "I'll give you two, to be on the safe side, you turn to open them and then throw them," he informed and handed the eggs over.  
>"Thanks," Conan mumbled and pocketed them. "Let's go down to the ground level. I'll show you the room, and then we can prepare a way to get the FBI out, they are locked two floors below the main one, however, the air vents down there are too narrow for you," Conan turned around and started to move in the direction for the elevator.<p>

* * *

><p>"So, why do you want me to steal poison for you?" KID mumbled silently as they stared down on the working scientists.<br>"If you don't steal it, then _I_ _will_," Conan whispered back and glared at the fake Vermouth.  
>"You're not going to tell me, are you?" Conan shook his head with an iron gaze, showing that he wouldn't back down and KID sighed quietly, but nodded.<p>

The thief backed away in the air vent and disappeared around a corner that led to a small storage next door to the room. Conan waited for a while and then saw how Vermouth entered the lab, and earned annoyed looks from the scientists. KID spared them no interest and headed straight for the refrigerator. From Conan's angle he could see how KID picked the lock in a second, just as fast as if he'd had a key.  
>"Vermouth-sama, what are you doing?" one male scientist went towards KID when he opened it. The child saw how four boxes and three glass bottles disappeared into the thief's pockets before the man was even halfway. The thief then took one extra box before he closed the refrigerator and locked it again. KID turned to the man with the box in his hands and gave him a sly smile.<br>"I'm sorry, I need to get this to Anokata," KID's smile became condescending and he walked out.

"Was that good enough?" KID mumbled as he showed up in the air vent.  
>"It was okay, let's just hope that we don't bump into someone who knows Vermouth well. Come on let's go," Conan answered and began crawling towards the smaller air vents followed by the fake Vermouth.<p>

"Do you have that grappling hook, or a rope of some kind?" the child asked and looked down the dark hole that he would climb into.  
>"Of course," KID mumbled and took out the grappling hook with a smile, "it was a good thing I came." Conan huffed and accepted the hook from KID.<br>"Yes, but I could have done it without you, in a longer period of time," the detective sighed as he tied the rope around his waist. "Send me down slowly, I'll speak in the bowtie once I'm far enough," KID nodded and Conan began descending.

Conan climbed into the air vent system and after a while told KID to stop. "Find a way down here, discreetly," Conan mumbled in the bowtie, making KID hear it through the button speaker.  
>"You're talking to Ghost-san, I can be invisible," KID whispered into the earpiece's transmitter and the rope disappeared up into the darkness.<p>

He climbed through the tunnels searching every cell and every room. There had been two groups of FBI agents, whereas one was separated into two. However, in total there had been 18 agents; two look outs, eight inside the apartment, and eight in the group to capture Chianti and Korn. Were those agents also captured?

Conan searched the entire floor methodically, but found nothing, so he reached the conclusion that either they hadn't been captured or they were being held on the other floor. The shrunken teenager crawled until he reached the air vent in the hallway to the cell. Two drowsy guards were standing outside the cell door talking quietly, they were the only guards he'd seen on the entire floor.

Conan turned up his shoes in case he'd need them and turned the half of the egg but kept it closed. Slowly he removed the grid so that it was open enough for the egg to pass through. He tossed the egg, closed the grid and backed into the air vent. Two thuds were heard and Conan looked out through the vent. The guards were asleep and the gas had risen to the ceiling. 'Effective,' Conan thought as he climbed out and headed for the guards. He searched their bodies but he couldn't find the key and he sighed annoyed.  
>"KID?" he whispered in the bowtie.<br>"Behind you," Vermouth's voice came and he turned around to see the thief arrive. "This is a maze," he stated annoyed, "the stairs down here were even hidden." The fake Vermouth shook his head and pulled out his lock-picking tools. He heard the lock open and the thief mumble something.

As KID opened the door and stepped in Jodie attacked him, but smoke erupted before she'd even touched him and when it cleared a confused Jodie was standing in the door, covered in a pink powder. KID was gone and Conan glanced around.  
>"Hello, Jodie-sensei," the child mumbled with a sigh and walked past her to search for the thief. Conan found him directly, he was attached to a corner in the ceiling like the annoying spider he was. "Care to come down?" he asked and the thief flashed him a grin.<br>"Maybe, but only if your friends play nicely, and don't attack me," Jodie and the other agents looked up towards the female voice.  
>"Was it really necessary to play a prank at a time like this?" Conan glared at the thief and nodded towards Jodie. The thief dropped down to the floor with a sigh, looking a bit sheepish.<br>"Sorry about that," he mumbled and Conan raised an eyebrow.  
>"Care to explain <em>why<em>?"

"Force of habit?" KID grinned, he was obviously having fun at the moment, but seeing as the child didn't like his answer he tried again, "involuntary reflex? Routine? Tradition? Work hazard?" Conan snorted with a short laugh.  
>"<em>You<em> are a work hazard," he mumbled and rolled his eyes. "Jodie-sensei, James-san, neither of you are allowed to tell him anything about me," Conan announced and all FBI agents looked confused.  
>"Him? Vermouth?" Jodie asked confused, making KID grin.<br>"Kaitou KID reporting for duty, ma'am," he said mockingly and used the wrong hand to make a salute.  
>"Wrong hand," Conan mumbled and took KID's tools.<br>"No, I'm a thief, I'm the opposite of the police, so I can't use their hand to make a salute," Conan huffed and walked over to the agents and started to open their locks.

"Jodie-sensei, how did you open your cuffs?" the detective asked as the first agent was released and KID began to help the next.  
>"Oh, I used something you can only find on a woman," she said and smiled.<br>"Only on a woman?" KID hummed with a frown and Conan knew what it was.  
>"A metal wire from your bra," he stated and saw how KID threw him a glance with a raised eyebrow. "How did you know?" the woman asked and he released the third agent.<br>"I saw a murder once," KID huffed at his words, "where a woman used that wire to kill a man."

Once the FBI agents were released and Conan had shown them the USB-sticks they were more than willing to leave. KID showed the way to the next floor, and Conan realised why it had taken him so long to get down there; it really was a maze with a hidden staircase, and in all honesty, it would have taken him a long time to get out if it wasn't for the thief. They searched the entire next floor but found no agents, and it wasn't until they got to the main floor that they got a problem.

Conan glanced out through the door and got worried, there were people everywhere, guards in black, a reception and some working people in suits.  
>"There must be a backdoor," Conan mumbled as he closed the door and threw a glance at the watch, they were cutting it close and didn't have time to look for another exit.<br>"I can take care of them," KID grinned and the child narrowed his eyes suspiciously.  
>"Okay, tell me how first," he demanded and the thief's grin widened as he flicked his wrists and opened up one fist of more eggs and the other with smoke bombs.<br>"They will never know what hit them," KID grinned and pointed to the air vent, "I'll go through that."

Conan nodded reluctantly and watched the thief disappear.  
>"Now you have to be prepared," the detective mumbled to the agents, "we have to be quick and try not to raise suspicion when we get out on the street. I think it's best if we all stick together and move at the same time, instead of walking out one or two at the time. We already have everything we need to bring them down," James nodded and mumbled an agreement and Conan opened the door to peak through.<p>

Smoke covered the room and he heard a few startled cries before the smoke cleared and everyone was unconscious. The fake Vermouth stood in the middle of the room and bowed theatrically when they opened the door. The elevator doors on the other side of the entrance room opened with a ding, making KID pull out his card gun. To Conan the entire world seemed to slow down. Vodka and Vermouth froze in the doors while Gin reacted with an irritated scowl on his face.

Just as KID spun around with the gun in his hand Gin pulled out his own with lightning speed. Conan bushed the button on the belt buckle, and had time to notice that Gin's gun was mounted with a silencer just before the muffled shot sounded. KID moved too late and Conan saw how a splatter of blood appeared when the bullet went right through his arm. KID fired and missed, Gin fired and the ball inflated. Conan kicked the ball with his already turned on shoes just as third bullet struck the thief. The detective inflated one of the small studs as the fourth bullet pierced KID's chest, and the thief fell to the floor. The football struck Gin while the baseball made its way into Vodka's face, effectively knocking him out. In horror Conan watched how Gin got up from the floor and he fired both of the tranquilizer needles from the watch. Gin wobbled a little and fell to all fours, glaring angrily at the child but slowly drifted into sleep.

James and a pink Jodie were already by the thief's side as Conan ran up to them.  
>"We need to get him to a hospital," she said but KID gritted his teeth and shook his head.<br>"I'm fine," he mumbled in a pained voice while gripping onto his injured arm, "only one bullet injured me. I'm wearing a very tight bulletproof vest, and my ribs are broken." James immediately opened the black jacket, revealing the vest with three bullets, whereas one would've gone through his heart if it hadn't been stopped.  
>"How come you have a vest?" James asked stunned and KID sighed as the vest was opened, revealing his white suite.<br>"Snipers are a work hazard," the thief tried to smile and Jodie started to yell out commands to the other agents, telling one to call for back up and the others to secure the knocked out members.

The reinforcements came quickly, Vermouth had vanished into thin air and KID called for his assistant. James was just done with taking care of the thief's wound when a white-clad KID dropped down from the ceiling, however, this KID had a mask covering his face. James helped the thief up from the floor and the masked KID bowed for the agent while he took the injured one's arm around his shoulders. There was a puff of smoke and they were gone. Conan stared at the place where they had been standing; it couldn't have been Toichi, could it? Did he fake his death, and did he disappear for eight years because he was training a replacement, because he was injured? Why? So that no one would know that he'd stolen Pandora? Was he searching for Pandora? In that case why? To draw attention from where it was hidden?

Conan forced all thoughts away from KID; he didn't have enough information, and all it served to do was to bring more questions. The child took a phone from one of the agents and gave a call to Haibara.  
>"We got them," he said smiling and heard her cry, out of both happiness and relief. Then a thought struck him; KID still had the poison, would he deliver it to him?<p>

* * *

><p>Conan was forced to tell his entire story, but left out that Haibara was Sherry. The FBI didn't know what Sherry looked like so she was safe for the moment, but he did tell them that he needed her to make him a cure, since she and her parents were the creators of the poison. Neither Jodie nor James was happy with that, but he promised to speak with Sherry about talking to them. While they were talking, FBI agents explained the situation to the Prime Minister of Japan and received a clearance for bringing down the Black Organisation members.<p>

As soon as the clearance was received, multiple high ranking police officers and government officials were brought down. The FBI turned to the other members of the police force and requested their assistance in bringing down the rest. It looked like the Black Organisation was everywhere, and everyone from store owners and school teachers to lawyers and doctors were picked up, most didn't even know what they were working for. Their crimes went from small robberies and extortions to serial murders and terrorist attacks. All code names were on the USB-sticks except Vermouth, Bourbon and the boss'. Conan was frustrated by that fact but James claimed that they already knew who it was and was gathering evidence against him, so he calmed down.

* * *

><p>When Conan entered Agasa's home he was immediately attacked by an overjoyed and ecstatic Haibara hugging him and dancing around the room, until she faced him and slapped him.<br>"That's for being captured," she looked like she wanted to cry out of pure happiness, "but you're okay!" She hugged him again and laughed. "They are gone, they are gone, they are gone!" Haibara continued to dance around the room while Conan smiled at her. "We are going to celebrate!" she roared and ran to get a cookbook. Haibara started planning a party, he was delighted as well and wouldn't mind celebrating it, everything that was needed now was the cure.

* * *

><p>AN: Egg-thing in chap. 8  
>I know that a pistol shot doesn't break the ribs when fired from one end of a large room to the middle, but it serves my purpose better. ;)<p> 


	17. The Red Tear of Immortality

A/N: This chapter is really strange, I've rewritten it multiple times and this is the best version. :S

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

Uploaded: 2012-04-14  
>Revised: 2014-09-15<br>Chapter rating: K  
>Words: 3,400<p>

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><p><strong>Chap. 17<br>The Red Tear of Immortality**

The news the next day was filled with the take down of the Organisation, the FBI and CIA's involvement in Japan. The news storm became even worse the day after that, when they somehow found out that the high school detective Kudou Shinichi had played a part in the take down, causing the reporters to dig into the whereabouts of the detective, which seemed to have dropped off the face of the planet, which he basically had. Conan sat by the television at Agasa's house after he'd eaten dinner and he wasn't happy. The news reporters for the-super-something-something-celebrity-news were sharing their theories with each other; making up what they thought could have happened to him, when they suddenly stopped talking and listened in their earpieces.

"We just received some _very_ interesting news," the male gossip reporter began, "it seems that Kaitou KID has withdrawn his heist note for tomorrow, due to injury." He finished and the woman continued with a smile.  
>"And how does this relate to the organisation and Kudou Shinichi?" the reporters grinned at the camera and Conan felt himself go cold; they couldn't have found out that quickly, could they? "It seems that Kaitou KID received over ten gunshot wounds rescuing a group of FBI agents accompanied by high school detective Kudou Shinichi from certain death."<p>

Conan gaped at the television; they had been almost correct, how had they gotten that information? They were worse than the nosiest detectives! The reporters continued to spin wild ideas about what Shinichi had done undercover, or that he might even be dead, and the bad part started when they began to spin stories about why Kaitou KID had been there to save them. Their theories ranged from; he being Kaitou KID or the two of them meeting as a coincidence and KID helping him, to them being lovers. Conan did not like it that he couldn't defend himself and for some reason Haibara was sitting beside him, laughing until she could barely breathe.

"This isn't funny," Conan growled at her, making her laugh even harder. The doorbell rang and Conan shook his head and went to open it.  
>"Kobayashi-sensei? Shiratori-keibu?" he asked confused and stared at the package in Shiratori's arms, wondering why the two of them would come to visit.<br>"Can we come in? I've got something for you," Kobayashi said with a smile and nodded towards the package.  
>"Sure," he said confused and stepped aside to let them enter.<br>"Kudou and KID! Lovers!" Haibara yelled cackling and held her stomach. "Oh my God! I'm hurting from laughing!" Conan felt his eyes twitch and glanced up to Kobayashi, who looked confused.  
>"They said on the news that KID and I-," Conan coughed, "Shinichi-niichan, are lovers."<p>

"Oh? Really?" Kobayashi asked and smiled strangely at him, "what I'm even more interested in is why they said on the radio that it was Kudou Shinichi who helped the FBI bring them down, when it was _you_, Tantei-kun." A distinct KID grin appeared on Kobayashi's face and Conan looked at him surprised.  
>"Oh? That... Who knows," the child mumbled and cleared his throat, "they also said that you got shot over ten times." He smiled and eyed the package. "Would you like something to drink, tea? Coffee? Water?" The thief smiled gently and nodded a bit.<br>"A glass of water would be nice, and a cup of tea for my lovely inspector," he said and the child nodded.  
>"You can sit down on the couch. Gas Haibara if she gets annoying, or just gas her now, she deserves it," Conan said with a smile, knowing what was most likely in the package, and went into the kitchen.<p>

When he came out, Haibara was smothering her laughter by clenching her hands over her mouth and staring at the grinning KID.  
>"You look a lot better than last time," he noted in his own voice and she started to chuckle behind her hands.<br>"Water and tea," Conan said as he placed one cup of tea in front of the Shiratori-impostor and the water in front of KID. He then placed his coffee cup on his place and gave the other tea to Haibara. She looked at him with a strangely amused look. "Is there something on my face?" Conan asked her annoyed; wondering why she was leering at him.

"Well," Haibara said and cleared her throat, "you are a _detective_," she begun explaining as he sat down beside her, "and he, is a _thief_," she smiled and chuckled, "and you are serving him like a maid!" Haibara grinned and Conan glared; darting her might not be such a bad idea after all. "Or do you want to hear what's really funny?" Haibara continued and smiled knowingly at him as he sighed and picked up his coffee. "Kudou and KID, lovers," the shrunken scientist whispered to him, but Conan only sipped on his coffee; making her sigh in annoyance. "How can you be so incredibly dense?" she muttered as the detective had begun to ignore her.

"Tell me, what are you going to do with the poison?" the thief demanded to know after the children had quieted down and took the package from the assistant. Haibara coughed on her tea and looked at them.  
>"Poison? You have Apoptoxin 4869?" she jumped down from the couch and snatched the package from the thief.<br>"Hey! I'm the one who stole it! I want to know what two children are going to do with poison, I can't just hand it to you," KID tried to get up from the other couch but fell back with a whine. "If I wasn't injured, I'd take it back. Go get it," the thief finished and Shiratori got up.  
>"No need," Haibara said as she placed the package on the table and opened it with a smile. "I'm the one who made this poison, I'm going to try to make a cure for it," Conan grinned and KID frowned as Haibara carefully picked up the bottles and the boxes.<p>

"So you two really are geniuses?" KID muttered and looked annoyed.  
>"Yes," the girl answered and opened one box to look at the pills. "Oh! I spoke to the FBI for a while, Gin's dead!" she said smiling, "he tried to escape so they shot him!" Conan shook his head.<br>"Not that I would shed tears for him, but it's too bad, he should rot in a cell for the rest of his life," the detective mumbled and watched her pick up another box.  
>"If anyone could have escaped and found me, or you, it would've been him. Now we won't have to worry about being found!"<p>

Conan decided to distract the obviously worried thief from the poison with an interrogation; it wasn't like one got many opportunities to do just that.  
>"When you steal," he began and KID reluctantly shifted his gaze from the poison to the detective, "what are you looking for?" The thief let his poker face fall into place.<br>"Immortality," he announced dramatically.  
>"As in: Immortality in history books, or literal immortality?" Conan asked but didn't let his annoyance show; he was certain that it was Pandora that the thief was after. "Why would you want immortality?" Conan asked the thief before he'd have time to answer and stared at him over the cup. "I don't," Kaitou KID grinned.<p>

"The red tear of immortality, which is shed by Pandora," Haibara mumbled and met KID's shocked gaze. "I just remembered," the scientist looked at Conan, "Pandora! That's what this drug is based on, but I can't remember how they got a hold of the tear. The drug was supposed to bring youth, but it only became poisonous and I kept working on it after my parents' death." She frowned in thought for a while and the thief stared at her in disbelief. "No, they didn't have the tear. They had something else, something close to it," she paused and narrowed her eyes in concentration. "They had the gem, but it suddenly vanished," she sighed, "this was so long ago, I can barely remember it."

"Then that must have been when KID stole it," Conan mused loudly, "ten years ago."  
>Haibara nodded, "yes, that's a possibility." KID gaped and his poker face was lost.<br>"Wait! KID? Do you guys know where Pandora is?" The children looked at each other and then at KID.  
>"No," Haibara said and Conan sipped on his coffee.<br>"Oh my God, you two are evil," the thief gasped, "do you really think that I can't see that you're lying? And ten years ago, you weren't even born then!"

"So that drug actually makes sense? It's supposed to bring youth," Conan mumbled to Haibara and ignored KID's frustrated look.  
>"In a twisted way; yes," she mumbled back and counted the pills, "who'd want to live forever anyway?" KID stared at them suspiciously.<br>"What about KID?" he wondered again and clenched his fists in nervousness; the children might know something about his father.  
>"The first KID saved Shinichi-niichan's life," Conan stated and moved closer to Haibara. "How long?" he whispered excitedly and she gave him an annoyed stare.<br>"I've already told you, same as before. I haven't gotten a look at this yet, once I have, I might change my verdict," she huffed silently and KID frowned.  
>"You two aren't making any sense," he grumbled and looked at them; reading their lips when he couldn't hear them.<p>

"Well," Haibara smiled evilly at the detective, "why don't you show KID your magic tricks? You're learning magic because of him, right?" Conan blushed as Haibara took the poison and started to carry it down to the lab.  
>"Tantei-kun and magic," KID hummed amused and Conan felt his ears start to burn from the blush that he was fighting.<br>"Oh, shut up," the child murmured.  
>"Show me!" KID said and tilted his head as he watched the poison being carried away; maybe he could coax information out of him if the detective was concentrating on other things.<p>

Conan looked into Kobayashi's face and narrowed his eyes.  
>"It's only sleight of hand and coins," he mumbled and drank the last of his coffee.<br>"Are you thinking of becoming a phantom thief, my rival?" KID asked interested and Conan glared at him.  
>"I won't show you, I'm not good enough," he mumbled embarrassed. "How bad is your arm?" Conan quickly asked to divert attention away from magic.<br>"The bullet went through the arm, but I still had to go to the hospital and it's hurting," KID said and eyed the child. He really needed to know everything and now was as good as anytime, "why did the FBI say that it was Kudou and not you who brought them down?"

"I might have been there, but it was Shinichi-niichan who took them down," Conan sighed; he didn't feel like lying anymore, but he had to. "I answered your question, now you answer mine," KID nodded at his request, "what will you do once you find Pandora?"  
>"Destroy it," KID stated calmly and Conan frowned; that was impossible without killing him.<br>"How far would you go to achieve that goal? Would you kill in order to destroy it?" KID only smiled at him.  
>"Now you answer my next question before I answer yours: Do you know where Pandora is?"<br>"Yes. Would you kill in order to destroy it?" KID stared at him and Conan smiled a little.  
>"No, where is it?" the thief said quickly but the child shook his head with a sad smile.<br>"What if you can't get to Pandora without killing?"

"I would find a way around it," the thief said but Conan just shook his head.  
>"There is no way around it, in order to destroy it a life must be taken," the sincerity in the child's eyes made KID stop to stare at him. "Pandora is safe and you can stop looking; your predecessor hid it well," Conan said and placed the empty cups on the tray.<br>"Okay, that wasn't a real answer. I wanted to know exactly where it is, so I just have to ask another question," Conan sat on the couch and eyed the almost mute television, "what's your real name?" The child huffed but didn't answer and they sat there in silence.

The child frowned and increased the volume on the TV; receiving an annoyed look from the thief.  
>"...And that's how the murderer did it!" Kudou Shinichi's voice came from an old recorded interview.<br>"Kudou-kun really is great!" Megure patted the teenagers back and the detective laughed confidently. Conan frowned; he got feelings of disgust as he watched himself. Was that person really him? Was he really that obnoxious? Had he changed that much in such a short period of time that he didn't even recognise himself? The thief snorted and Conan threw a glance at him; he was annoyed.  
>"Do you know the difference between Tantei-baka and that Kudou-guy over there?" Kaitou KID asked with a disapproving frown on his face. Conan waited; what did Kaitou KID have to say about him and Kogoro?<br>"Nothing," the thief continued and Conan felt a small burn in his chest; that statement had hurt.  
>"Well, the Kudou-guy actually solves his own cases, but otherwise; no, no difference. Promise me one thing Tantei-kun," the shrunken detective met the thief's eyes, "never become like that." Conan nodded; not knowing what else to do.<p>

Kaitou KID had told him that he was as revolting as the drunkard and Conan felt his chest twist in a terrible way and became nauseous.  
>"You... don't think I'm like him?" the child asked nervously and Kaitou KID shook his head.<br>"You might have confidence, but you're not the same. You know, Tantei-san was like that before too, until I bent him out of shape and now he's a much nicer person. I was a bit like that before, but I like to think that I've changed; _you_ were the one who bent me out of shape," the thief grinned; making Conan blush, "it's a good thing. I'm a better person now, even if I'm a thief, and if you ever become like _that_, then I'll come to hunt you."

"Okay, how about a deal," Conan turned off the TV with a smile, "before I go home, to my real home, I'll give you a clue to my real name. However, it might take between five months to five years before I go." KID nodded in agreement.  
>"I still want to know what you know about the first KID," the thief stated and Conan opened his mouth to reply, but no sound came. The detective closed his mouth with a sigh.<br>"I don't know much about him, I've only me-" Conan stopped short, 'met him a few times over ten years ago', he shook his head, he couldn't say that. "I only know what I've been told," he said apologetically with a sad smile.  
>"Who told you about him?" Conan thought for a moment of what he should say.<br>"Kudou Shinichi," he said and wondered if he would regret going near the truth.

"Kudou Shinichi, the high school detective? The one that they said helped the FBI? He who has been gone for almost two years? The one that no one knows where he is?" KID asked and Conan nodded.  
>"Yes, him," he answered and then snickered. "And if you find him before he comes back, you should get a medal," the child mumbled so quietly that KID had to read his lips in order to know what he said.<br>"If you two have stopped flirting with each other I need to borrow Edogawa-kun," Conan turned to the voice and saw how Haibara leered at him.  
>"Funny! Ha Ha," he retorted, "you should have been a comedian instead of a mad scientist!" Haibara snorted at his statement.<br>"So should you, Meitantei."

The detective stood and turned to the thief.  
>"If there isn't anything else, I need to humour the God of the Underworld," Conan whispered the last sentence to KID, and the visitors got up. "I'm sorry to throw you out like this, but it's important." KID regarded the child suspiciously as he stood up.<br>"Maybe I don't want to leave," he said and tilted his head, making the child sigh in frustration.  
>"Well," Conan bit his lip, knowing that he couldn't chase the thief out if he didn't want to leave; it wasn't like he could kick a football at him when he was injured, an injury KID sustained when saving him. "Okay, then stay," he shrugged and walked over to Haibara.<p>

"Are you going to do anything strange?" he asked and she gave him her annoying 'are you an idiot'-looks.  
>"<em>They<em> are gone, it doesn't matter if he knows the truth, he can watch," she started to grin and Conan nodded; she was right, it didn't matter, "he can even hold your hand if you want to." Conan snorted at her words and turned to KID.  
>"Haibara says that it's okay, you can do whatever you want."<p>

Kaito watched how the children went into the room and left the door open.  
>"What should we do, Jii-chan? I don't feel comfortable with leaving poison to kids, even if they are smart," the thief mumbled and his helper nodded.<br>"Shall we check on them, Bocchama?" Kaito nodded and carefully began making his way to the door. Once he reached it he realised that the door hid a flight of stairs down to a basement.  
>"This could be a trap," he mumbled as Jii started to walk down, "we were talking to the kid who pretended to fall off a building once, just to try and get me with the watch." Jii stopped in front of him and looked back.<br>"The same child that made the motorcycle blow up..." the assistant mumbled worriedly, "did you wipe the glass?" Kaito huffed and started walking down the stairs.  
>"Of course I did, and I just realised that this can't be a trap," the teenager walked past him and Jii sent him a confused glance. "Even though he plays dirty tricks, he has honour," the thief grinned, "I do something for him, he lets me go; it's like a law."<p>

As Kaito got down to the basement he was faced with a brightly lit and almost empty room. There was a door to the right and he walked over and opened it.  
>"See, I told you so," the scientist-girl said and watched Kaito study the basement-lab, "the phrase 'curiosity killed the cat' comes to mind." Tantei-kun huffed and Kaito noticed a bit disturbed that the Haibara-girl was drawing blood from him.<br>"What is going on?" Kaito mumbled to himself and walked into the laboratory, everything was clean and brightly lit. There was a computer in the corner and machines he'd never seen before were placed alongside one of the walls, and after the machines there were two refrigerators, one contained the poisons he'd brought and a couple of other bottles while the other contained something that looked an awful lot like blood.  
>'Yep,' Kaito thought disturbed as he gazed back to the children, 'that is definitely his blood.'<p>

"Touch anything in here and I will find you, and I will poison you," the little girl in the lab-coat glared at the two intruders, "provided that whatever you'd touched hadn't killed you already." Kaito felt a shiver run through him; that little girl was creepy in her own right, now he finally understood why Tantei-kun called her names.  
>"Don't you have enough blood to play with?" the small detective muttered and eyed the refrigerator. "Tsk," the girl said and walked up to a tray with a glass of water and powder of some kind, "I need to see if you singed your contract yesterday with your closest friend and follower, death." She poured some of the powder into the glass of water and placed a spoon in it. Tantei-kun muttered something to himself as she walked over to him.<br>"Thanks," he mumbled and stirred whatever was in the glass.

"What are you two doing?" Kaito asked concerned as the detective started to drink, "you shouldn't be playing with needles." Haibara twitched and glared at him.  
>"You," she growled low but then sighed, "I will let that insult go for now, simply because you gave me APTX 4869, but insult me again and I'll give you something to really complain about." The thief only stared at her and the detective finished his drink.<br>"Don't mess with Haibara; her revenges are really unpleasant," he said with a grimace as he stared at the glass, "I'll never get used to this stuff."


	18. In the Blind Spot

A/N: This chapter is just time going by.  
>I've been thinking over the absolute last part of this chapter for weeks, changed and tweaked it. So I hope you'll enjoy it. ;)<p>

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

Uploaded: 2012-04-16  
>Revised: 2014-09-15<br>Chapter rating: K  
>Words: 4,400<p>

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><p><strong>Chap. 18<br>In the Blind Spot  
><strong>  
>KID had been annoying in the lab, almost refusing to leave and slowly driving Haibara insane by inadvertently insulting her repeatedly, but he didn't know why calling her 'little Ojou-san' made her want to beat him up. Kaitou KID had stayed for a long while and they had spoken, not about anything important and the topics ranged from doves and magic to black holes and some TV show Conan had never heard of. Every time KID touched on the subject of Pandora Conan grew silent, even though he told him small things he knew about the original Kaitou KID. Conan found himself blushing repeatedly at the praise the thief gave him for his 'magic'; it was just the coin-trick, and then the thief actually taught him how to pull roses from his sleeves in a better way, so he wouldn't damage them. Conan had a lot of fun in the end.<p>

Ultimately KID had refused to leave the lab until Haibara had lost it completely, yelling; "What the hell do you think that I'm going to do with it? Eat it?" and then continued to curse in a way that would leave even Nakamori blushing. KID had been shocked and Conan had decided to leave them alone down there, fearing that she might take her wrath out on anyone in the room. It seemed like it hadn't taken Kaitou KID long to push her completely over the edge as Conan heard him scream and then quickly saw him appear in the living room. Apparently Haibara had some kind of taser down there, which she'd used on him, but the Shiratori-impostor was spared since he stayed out of her way and didn't disturb her.

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><p>Conan had been pestering Haibara about the progress of the cure for two weeks to the extent that she didn't even answer the phone anymore, and every time he went over to her she locked herself in the basement. The detective had watched with annoyance from Agasa's gates that there always seemed to be at least one or two reporters outside the Kudou mansion's gates, waiting for the detective to return, and not allowing him to enter. They had questioned everyone he knew, including Ran and himself, about his whereabouts. No one could tell them anything, but Ran had let it slip that he was currently seeing a woman by the name of Irene Singer. The reporters had been delighted by that piece of information, like starving sharks that caught the scent of blood, and had questioned her further. Until she struck her fist in the wall and gigged, after that no one dared to approach her.<p>

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><p>"Congratulations, Kudou-kun, I have a way to create a complete antidote; you're not going to die," Haibara's voice sounded after he'd answered his phone.<br>"What? Die? Really? Can I have it now?" he asked and Haibara huffed in the phone.  
>"When you took the second poison it started to break down your body, that's why I have been working so hard and stayed away from school for so long, and I just have a <em>way<em>, not the finished product. You will have it in two or three months, start planning your farewell party."

"How long would I've had without the antidote?" Conan quickly asked.  
>"Three years, but only two worth living since the last one would have consisted of you being in a coma. Congratulations, you're going to live." The phone clicked shut and Conan was confused for a moment but then grinned.<br>"Yes!" he yelled and jumped in a sudden rush of pure joy.  
>"Conan-kun? Is something up?" Ran popped out from the kitchen and Conan laughed nervously.<br>"No, Ran-neechan, nothing is up, can I go out to play?" the child made a dash for the door and disappeared through it before she'd had time to say anything.

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><p>"Hi, Mom!" Conan said as soon as she answered, "I need your help."<br>"Oh, Shin-chan needs my help!" she said gleefully, "what can I do for you?"  
>"I need you to come home to speak with the principal and get the teachers to release papers where it says what I have to do in order to graduate, and get my textbooks from school. Haibara will have the cure in a couple of months, I need to get as much work done as possible, I've missed two years worth of school."<br>"Okay," she beamed lovingly, "I'll come and take care of you, Shin-chan!"  
>"Yea, yea, and chase away the reporters by the house, will you?"<br>"Anything for my little Shin-chan!" Conan felt his eyes twitch; she was probably using his stupid nickname just to annoy him. "Is Okiya Subaru-san still living there?"  
>"No, mom, he moved out three months ago, his grandma was ill and I've already told you this." Conan sighed, "it doesn't matter if you stay or leave once I've get my books, but you have to come and pick me up as Conan's mother when everything is in order. You could attend my farewell party as well."<br>"I love parties!" she squealed excitedly.  
>'I know you do,' Conan thought and said; "oh, and one more thing, I promised KID that I would say goodbye before I leave, so could you wait with calling until he has sent out a heist note? He should be well enough in a couple of months."<br>"Huh? Why did you tell him that?"  
>"He helped me; he's the one who gave Haibara APTX 4869, and I kind of complained to him about being forced to live under an alias," Conan mumbled a bit sheepishly making Yukiko laugh.<br>"How does one say goodbye to a phantom thief?" she joked, without knowing that she made her son frown in thought. How should he say goodbye to the thief?

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><p>"Yo, Kudou! Ya're on tha news everywhere!" Hattori greeted with a laugh, "and they've been saying that ya're together with that thief! But now they think ya're together with someone called Irene Singer!" Conan heard the teenage detective break down completely in the phone.<br>'Yes, ha ha,' the shrunken teenager thought irritated as he listened to the laughter.  
>"So, so, what do ya' need?" the Detective of the West asked after taking a couple of deep breaths and tried to restrain the snicker that wanted to bubble up.<br>"I don't need anything from you," the child growled annoyed in the phone.  
>"Oh? So ya' just called to talk, that's cool, when will ya' come to Osaka? I still haven't had time ta show ya' that restaurant we tried to get to the last time."<br>"Yes yes, how about this; I'll come and visit you in a couple of months and we, just you and me, can go there, and then do whatever we want."  
>"Sure," Hattori's voice was thoughtful; he knew that something about what the Detective of the East had said was odd. Conan waited.<p>

"Do ya'... Do ya' have the cure?" Hattori suddenly whispered.  
>"Yes, in a couple of months, Haibara told me to plan a farewell party. Will you come to say goodbye to Conan and hello to Shinichi?"<br>"You bet ya'! I'll be there! Just give me a call before tha party so I know!"

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><p>Conan was exited; he couldn't wait until he got back to his own life. Every moment he had, he spent trying to catch up in school and he used the old excuse of playing games at the professor's or playing with Haibara in order to fool Ran. His mother had done a great job and had led the attention away from the house; he didn't know how, but it had worked. He went through assignment after assignment, and was only sidetracked when it got extremely boring, like with subjects he already knew all about. History assignments took hours to write, just because his brain started to think about tricks and deceit, magic in other words.<p>

As Conan learned more about magic he became more fascinated; he already knew how the tricks worked, but the amount of psychology that was poured into it was interesting, were humans really that easily fooled? If Conan was sure that he could've pulled of an unsolvable murder before, then he would find it easy now. But thinking about magic only had one logical next step; thinking about KID, and in order to avoid becoming crazy with the questions, he'd created a file on the thief and the gang that was competing against him. All he needed now was just a little more information.

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><p>A well known and adored prodigy child ran through the police station, claiming to go to visit Satou Miwako. Conan ran through the door to the big office area and went directly to the police woman's desk, knowing that she currently had a lot of work.<br>"Satou-keiji!" Conan beamed at her once he reached her desk.  
>"Conan-kun?" she asked confused, "what are you doing here?"<br>"Hi! Satou-keiji! I just came to visit! What are you doing?" The woman smiled fondly at him and picked him up. She continued to explain how a police officer writes a report while he listened, even though he already knew.  
>"You have no coffee," Conan remarked and picked up her empty cup, making the woman laugh, "I can go and get you some!"<br>"Sure, thank you," she said as he jumped down and ran to the coffee makers.

"Maybe I should go home and let you work," the child said when he handed Satou the cup, "you seem to have a lot to do." The woman accepted the cup with a smile.  
>"You're so understanding," she said, "you could come back some other day." Conan ran out from the room waving a goodbye, but instead of going to the exit he went to the elevators and excited on the fourth floor. The child grinned; he was in a large room with a long counter. There were police officers everywhere and he just needed to get into the file room unnoticed, which was behind the counter.<p>

He walked onto the room, hiding in the mass of people and waited, he needed to see if the door was locked. There were big tree-plants along the walls of the room, and the receptionists were speaking with people, taking calls and writing things down. A man that was walking with a file in his hands caught Conan's attention and the child made his way towards the file room by hiding behind the plants. He made his way around the counter and watched the man open the door. Conan sneaked in behind him before the door had time to close.

The detective quickly found what he was looking for and pulled out one of the big boxes. Conan grinned like child on Christmas Eve when he opened it, Kaitou KID had one box full of files and Conan got to read them all. The child waited until the lights flickered off and the noise of the door closing had sounded before he began dragging the box to the far corner using his watch as a light source.  
>'The first time Kaitou 1412 appeared was in Paris when he jumped off of the Eiffel tower and a motorbike crashed to the ground,' Conan looked at the old and blurry photos.<p>

'This must have been Toichi,' Conan mused and narrowed his eyes; it looked like the thief was holding in something. 'And two years after this he began stealing, why? For fun or something else?' Conan was pretty sure that it was a person that 1412 was holding and he grinned; KID had hinted to him that his mother was Phantom Lady, which meant that the original Kaitou had a connection to her, why else would the new KID dress up as him?  
>'Maybe Phantom Lady? Didn't she disappear somewhere around this time?' Conan ran back to the shelf and climbed it. The metal dug into his hands as he read the notes on the boxes. He pulled the cover off and placed the lid on top of the box next to it. The child shone the light into it and read the names of the files.<br>'There,' he grabbed the last file and dropped down to the floor with a hiss of pain; he'd climbed higher than he'd thought and he grumbled as he went back to the other box. The last sighting of Phantom Lady was one month prior to 1412 jumping off the Eiffel tower.

The child read file after file memorising everything, and only stopped when someone came in. Someone had begun shooting at the thief the heist that Shinichi had died and two years prior to Toichi's death, was that really a coincidence? Conan kept reading and got to where the Toichi files ended and the new KID started. He hummed as he realised that he would need to go down to the archive to find the report of the investigation of Toichi's death.  
>'In the beginning the new KID wore a mask to hide his face,' Conan stared at a picture of the mask; it was the same as the assistant had used and he frowned, was it really the new KID? Or was it that the assistant pulled off a couple of heists to show the next KID how to do it?<p>

In the beginning the new KID had stolen anything that he fancied; crowns, Christmas decorations, diamonds and other items, but after the first reported shooting he started to only go after diamonds, why?  
>'He didn't know what he was looking for? He didn't know where Toichi hid it and was afraid that the gang would find it,' Conan's brain made up a scenario, and he then nodded to himself; that was a probable scenario, especially since he began to get the nagging feeling that Toichi's death might not have been an accident, which would explain a lot.<p>

Conan memorised the last of the files and began to get a headache; he had been there for hours. The detective placed the box back in its place and looked through the labels but couldn't find anything about a Snake. He opened the door slightly ajar; there were still a lot of people there. He needed a distraction so he turned up his shoes and inflated one of the baseballs. He kicked it through the small gap and saw how it bounced on the wall and flew straight for the mirrors that were standing on the opposite wall. He heard a crash and then left the room unnoticed.

* * *

><p>He got to the archive easily, but once he was there it got harder. The boxes weren't in any normal order and once he'd figured out which section to search he was forced to go through every box, since the boxes only carried the file-number and not the names. The report was beneath contempt and only had a few notations; it was obvious that the person who had written it had the same intelligence as the Gunma prefecture's inspector, Yamamura-keibu. Conan smiled as he got to the pictures in the file; at least the officer had been thorough.<p>

After all of the photos of the scene, Conan was certain that it had been a murder and the murderer had used explosives to make the entire building unstable and catch fire. It had been pure luck that the building hadn't collapsed and killed everyone inside. Conan turned the page and a picture of Toichi smiled back at him from the personal files. The detective glanced over the rows and stared at the picture of the man's family.  
>'Wife; Kuroba Chikage' A happy woman with shoulder length, brown hair and blue eyes, twinkling with a bit of mischief smiled back at him. She was holding a child in her arms. He had a grin and looked like he would explode from happiness any second; he held a red rose in one of his hands and his arms were thrown out to the sides; it was like he was about to perform a trick for the camera.<br>'Son; Kuroba Kaito.' Conan narrowed his eyes, 'Kaito, why does that name seem familiar?'

Conan shook his head and continued to study the picture. Toichi was holding an arm around his wife and smiling at the boy; he looked amused by the boy's antics. There were an older man on the picture too, standing to the man's right.  
>'Close friend; Jii Konosuke, assistant' Conan's eyes moved to the line just underneath. 'Other relatives; None' Conan smiled, that made things a lot easier, the new KID had to be in his family or was a friend of Jii. The detective suddenly snickered loudly; Kaitou KID had actually named his son 'Kaitou', even if he used other characters for the name, making it different. 'Who was Phantom Lady to KID? A friend of his or a relative of Jii? Or,' Conan looked back at the smiling woman, 'it couldn't be, could it? That would make Kuroba Kaito the current KID, but he does have the right age for it.'<p>

* * *

><p>Summer break ended and Kaito had recovered a little bit, but his ribs still hurt if he ran and his mother threatened with tying him down if he did. There was no way that the Kaitou KID would be able to escape the wrath of Phantom Lady; she was much more experienced and he was injured. She had been furious when Jii had brought him home, but in the end she'd made him promise to be more careful; knowing that there was no way that her son would stop, and then continued to show what a mother hen she really was. Kaito hadn't been allowed to go anywhere without her or Jii, and he'd been confined to house arrest for the reminder of the summer. Even though he wanted to go out further than the yard he was happy that he was 'travelling in America'.<p>

After the news of the takedown and Kaitou KID had begun to spread, Hakuba had shown up more than a couple of times with a worried look and his mother had only sent him away. Chikage had been proud of her son; Kaito knew this because she had made him his favourite foods, snacks and desserts, reminding Kaito why he loved being babied by his mother and he would act more than childish and cute just for her. Chocolate and desserts could make the Kaitou KID do almost anything, so he happily stayed inside her established perimeters, content like a sunbathing cat, slowly healing and performing magic tricks until the end of summer break.

* * *

><p>As soon as Kaito entered the school grounds he could hear people speaking about the FBI, Kudou Shinichi and Kaitou KID just as interested as the reporters had been just a little more than two months ago. When he entered the classroom Hakuba descended upon him and checked him for injuries.<br>"Hakuba, what are you doing?" Kaito asked and the detective frowned.  
>"They said on the news that you had been shot," he said and narrowed his eyes as he studied the thief's body.<br>"Me? Why would I be on the news?" Hakuba gave him an annoyed look but then raised one eyebrow.  
>"I guess," he mumbled slowly, "you could have been wearing a bulletproof vest." A hand was placed on Kaito's chest and the magician hissed from the weight, making Hakuba pull it away as if he'd burned himself.<br>"Careful, don't make it worse," Kaito gave the detective a sour look.  
>"That's the proof then," Hakuba stated with a small smile, "you can't just say that your injuries and Kaitou KID's just happened to coincide."<p>

"As a matter of fact, I can," Kaito smiled a bit sheepishly, "you see, it was this accident with the fireworks that I was building, um, they exploded and a big tray and these small bolts went flying all over the place." Kaito could tell that Hakuba didn't believe a word that he said, but he didn't care; it was a fake story that he made up just to annoy him. "The fireworks were really strong. I was actually trying to make them so big that they would be seen by everyone!" Kaito said excitedly and grinned, "but when they exploded, the tray struck me in the chest, breaking some of my ribs and one of those small bolts went right through my arm! Do you want to see the scar?"

Without any answer Kaito pulled up the sleeve of the uniform to his shoulder and proudly showed the perfectly annoyed Hakuba.  
>"Yes, that's a bullet wound," he sighed and shook his head. "I can't believe that Kudou was there with you," Hakuba muttered; he'd promised to himself to become bigger than the Detective of the East.<br>"Kudou wasn't even-," Kaito cleared his throat and Hakuba smirked. "Kudou, wasn't he the detective that goes to Teitan High School? In the Beika area," the magician quickly corrected himself, making Hakuba chuckle.  
>"Interesting, so he wasn't there, but got credit for it," the detective hummed contently and left, giving the magician time to cause his usual chaos.<p>

* * *

><p>"Kaito are you all right?" Aoko asked concerned when lunch break came.<br>"Yes, why?" Kaito moved his gaze from outside to the girl standing in front of his bench.  
>"Well, it's just that you haven't... made much... noise, today, and you always start school with a day full of pranks," Aoko stared down at him, demanding an explanation.<br>"Well I had this firework explode in my face not too long ago," the magician grinned and told the lie again. Aoko was mortified by the fact that he could've died, but he managed to calm her down and convince her to eat lunch together, but to Kaito's irritation Hakuba joined them without permission.

The magician frowned as he ate; Hakuba and Aoko were sitting closer than usual and talking in a strange manner.  
>"Aoko," Kaito decided to ask, "why are you using Hakuba's first name?" The detective sent him a happy smile and Aoko blushed.<br>"Well," she stammered and smiled a bit sheepishly at him, "when you were in Amerika, Saguru and I, we-." Aoko blushed deeply and stopped talking but smiled brightly.  
>"We're dating," Hakuba finished smiling and placed his hand over Aoko's. Kaito gaped as the couple lovingly gazed into each other's eyes. Kaito had not seen that coming, he knew they had a lot in common and that Hakuba liked Aoko.<br>"What? You two are-!" Kaito was interrupted by a hand covering his mouth and a hush from Aoko.  
>"Shh, not so loudly, I want to tell Keiko before she hears it through rumours; just like you, she's been travelling the entire summer."<p>

"Yea, well, as I've said before; you two make a great couple, and this time I mean it," Kaito grinned and hid behind his poker face. He'd let go of Aoko some time ago because as long as he was Kaitou KID, they could never be together. He didn't even know if he loved her in that way anymore either, his love for her had become more like that of a sister, which he loved to annoy. Hakuba huffed, he remembered what the magician had told him the first time he'd tried to ask Aoko out. _'Hmm, an incompetent detective who can't catch KID and the daughter of a hopeless inspector, actually, you guys are a match! Hahaha!'_

"But remember Hakuba," Kaito continued, "Aoko is my cute little baby-sister and if you hurt her, there won't be a place on this planet where I won't be able to find you." Even though the magician smiled Hakuba could see in his eyes than he meant it.  
>"I do not doubt that," the detective answered and shivered by the thought of a vengeful KID, especially if he decided to leave his 'no one gets hurt'-policy at home, "and there will never be any need for me to hide, because hurting Aoko would mean hurting myself." Aoko blushed even deeper by the Brit's words.<p>

* * *

><p>Despite his shock at lunchtime he noticed that during the rest of the day the witch was sending him strange looks; she always did that, but her eyes were worried and just as the bell rung, declaring the end of the day, she walked up to him.<br>"Kuroba," she said and bit her lip, "can I talk to you?" Kaito looked surprised; Akako never _asked_ to speak with him, if she wanted to, she would just do it or drag him away.  
>"What is it Akako?" he asked with a bright poker face in full effect. She seemed to be thinking about what she would say.<br>"You're injured because of the fake boy, aren't you?" Akako Koizumi mumbled questioning.  
>'Fake boy?' Kaito thought but then realised that the witch might know Tantei-kun's real name. "A fake boy? What's his name?" the magician asked with a happy grin.<br>"He's protected so I don't know, but he shall go away soon, only to leave room for someone much worse," she said ominously and stared at him.  
>"He'll go away? I don't understand what you are talking about," Kaito lied, but got worried, did it mean that Tantei-kun would die? Or go home? "Um, a <em>fake <em>boy, how do you know that the boy is fake?"

"It's what my mirror calls him. The day Kaitou KID got injured was the same day that my mirror told me that the fake boy and the one obscured in darkness would somehow draw you into danger," she said and Kaito sighed.  
>"I'm not Kaitou KID, I'm way better."<br>"You don't understand; the boy must not leave! If he does the one clouded in darkness will be released!" Kaito frowned annoyed at her words.  
>"What does that even mean?" he wondered honestly.<p>

"I don't know; that's why I'm so worried! My mirror told me that the one obscured by the darkness of this world will get to you through the fake boy, and after that you will be lost to all. And this is what Lucifer said; The false youth, hiding in broad daylight from the shadows of night that threatened to destroy him, will willingly perish into nonexistence for the obscured one. Whilst the shadows are being abolished from within, the one obscured in their malignity will be set free from their chains with the end of the false youth, and will finish the remaining darkness, but will be forever tainted." Kaito stared at her and blinked, trying to make sense of what she'd told him.  
>"Okay," he said slowly and looked at her seriously, "I have absolutely no idea what you just told me." The magician picked up his bag and smiled at her as he said goodbye.<br>"Neither do I, KID-san, neither do I," Akako mumbled and sighed as she watched him leave.


	19. The Day Edogawa Disappeared

A/N: OMG so many reviews! Thank you! I'm the happiest writer in the world! :D

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

Uploaded: 2012-04-19  
>Revised: 2014-09-15<br>Chapter rating: K  
>Words: 2,800<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Chap. 19<br>The Day Edogawa Disappeared**

Conan went multiple times to the police station to visit and sneak into the file rooms. He'd looked through shootings, murders and extortions and he found some names of animals. The shrunken teenager found that a person called "Viper" and two others by the names "Hawk" and "Fangtooth" were working for a person called Anokata and immediately thought of the Black Organisation's boss Anokata, but it couldn't be the same.

The Black Anokata was a meticulous planner that, according to Vermouth, could destroy a good plan by over-planning. The Animal Anokata had sloppy members and multiple high ranked ones with codenames had been caught. They left evidence behind themselves and went to jail, but the similarities couldn't just be a coincidence. The Black Anokata had existed for a long time, which would suggest that the other Anokata was an imitator, which in turn would mean that there was a possibility that they were governed by an ex-member. Conan grinned; he had their names and their goal, he only needed to find a way to use the information against them.

* * *

><p>Then finally the day when Edogawa Fumiyo called came and she let them know that things had gotten better and that she was ready to take her son back. Conan thought that he'd prepared a good farewell for the thief, but he still didn't understand why he wanted KID to know who he was. He wanted to go to the heists, they were a lot of fun, but the thief didn't have to know of the connection between Shinichi and Conan. The detective had even consulted an amused Haibara in the matter of saying farewell. Conan couldn't bring himself to tell KID straight out who he was; he was too worried that the thief might dislike him even more. They had after all slept in the same bed, just after he'd done something horribly childish, and just thinking about it made him feel queasy. Ran had told him the news teary-eyed, while he'd been so happy that he could barely contain himself. He'd been waiting for that call ever since the news had joyously announced that Kaitou KID had left a heist note, and he'd called Hattori as soon as Ran had gone to buy dinner.<p>

The Detective Boys had taken the news badly, and even worse since they couldn't stay in contact with him. Conan's excuse had just been because he would live in America with his old friends, and that they would probably never meet again. Ayumi had been clinging to him and crying while Mitsuhiko and Genta had had some mixed feelings, they didn't want to lose a friend but they didn't like that Ayumi liked him so much.

* * *

><p>At five the Detective Boys and Conan played in the park, Hattori and Kazuha were spending time with Ran and Sonoko. Satou, Takagi, Chiba, Yumi and Megure stopped by earlier that day. The women had given him bone crushing hugs and Yumi had almost refused to let him go. Shiratori and Kobayashi came just as the police officers left, and some kids from the class also stopped by to say goodbye, even though he'd already said it. Fumiyo would show up around six when they were going to eat and at eight she would excuse them with saying that they had to get to the airport. Everyone would say goodbye and he would go to the heist to say farewell to KID.<p>

Everything went according to plan and they had just seated themselves to eat the food when the doorbell rang.  
>"Yukiko-chan!" Ran announced thrilled when she opened the door and Conan immediately looked over at his mother; she was still sitting beside him, looking shocked.<br>"Mom," Conan mumbled quietly and whispered in her ear, "that must be KID, checking on our deal, I don't think Vermouth would come here, not disguised as you. So now you have the chance to show me the acting skills that made you famous." Conan grinned as he saw that the challenge made his mother glow, she loved to show off and KID would be fun to challenge.

"Oba-chan!" Conan beamed as Yukiko entered and her smile faltered.  
>"Mou, Conan-kun! I'm not an old lady!" the fake Yukiko gave him the evil eye and he laughed a bit; KID was really good at impersonating his mother.<br>"I'm sorry Onee-chan," Conan continued to laugh. Somehow he found the situation hilarious; KID was impersonating his mother, while his mother was sitting by the table, impersonating another person, also his mother.  
>"Conan-chan!" Fumiyo said with warning in her voice, and he stopped laughing to look at her. "Good, don't be rude now," Conan's mother stood up and smiled happily at KID.<p>

"Yukiko-chan! It's been too long!" Fumiyo hugged Yukiko with a small smile.  
>"Fumiyo-chan! It certainly has!" KID squealed excitedly and Conan became impressed; the thief had done his research. "I have to come and visit more often! But so do you!" Yukiko stated joyously and sounded a bit threatening as he said the last sentence.<br>"Would you like something to eat?" Ran asked and Yukiko simply sat down.  
>"Yes, please, Ran-chan's cooking is the best," Conan grinned at KID; it was too good, he would have to mess with him somehow and by the look in his mother's eyes she was thinking the same thing.<p>

Conan caught a glance of Hattori's confusion and he went over to him. "Hattori, I had a deal with KID, and that's probably him, impersonating my mother without knowing that she's sitting right in front of him," the fake child snickered quietly to the Osakan detective and saw how KID threw them a nervous glance.  
>"Ahou," Hattori muttered, "what kind of deal?"<p>

"I'll tell you later, he's getting nervous by us whispering. I want to mess with him before he leaves, and I think mom wants that too. Don't spoil her fun." Hattori laughed and Fumiyo pulled him away from the detective.  
>"Conan! Stop messing around, look at all the beautiful food that Ran-san made for you, show some respect!" she scolded harshly.<br>"I'm sorry Kaa-san," Conan pouted in a whining voice and saw how amusement gleamed in the thief's eyes. 'Oh, that's it! You're not going to have fun,' Conan's brain growled annoyed.

"Onee-chan?" Conan began in an innocently childish voice and KID smiled at him, "where is Yuusaku-ojisan?" KID smiled gently; a perfect imitation of Yukiko.  
>"He went to Greece to collect more material for the next book, the publishers are on him like crazy," he giggled lightly and Conan smiled, KID was certainly good.<br>"Oh, I thought you had run away from him," the child stated with a small smile and KID shook his head.  
>"I would never do that!" he said disturbed and Conan could barely hold himself from snickering; KID didn't know about his crazy parents, hunting each other around the world and running away from deadlines.<br>"What? Are you denying every time you've hidden at our home, just because he gave some waitress a smile that you didn't like?"

Conan could see a flash of worry pass KID's eyes as he laughed nervously, "I try not to think about it."  
>"Kaa-san! Onee-chan hasn't been in my room since I left, has she?" Conan asked worriedly and tugged in Fumiyo's clothing.<br>"She slept there a couple of weeks ago," his mother lied and ruffled his hair.  
>"Aw! She always messes up my room! She didn't play with my toys, did she?" Conan asked in the same childish way and turned to the thief. "You didn't put up any traps, did you? Did you booby-trap my toys?" Conan stared at Yukiko with irritation in his eyes, and watched the thief swallow nervously but only showing a calm smile on his face.<br>"No, of course not Conan-kun, I haven't done anything like that."

Conan sent KID an angry scowl, "you only say that when you're lying! I hope it isn't worse than the time you kidnapped me!" The child turned back to his food and Fumiyo chuckled a little as Yukiko looked stunned.  
>"Conan-kun, I didn't kidnap you, I borrowed you!" Yukiko claimed and Fumiyo giggled. Conan let his mother take over and listened how KID fell into the role of Yukiko and made up things he didn't know. He answered question after question and held a conversation; he was very good, until he relaxed and made a slip.<p>

"So how's Shin-chan doing?" Fumiyo smiled at the fake her.  
>"Oh, she's doing fine," KID answered quickly without thinking; making Fumiyo, Hattori and Conan burst into laughter and the thief looked between them, confused for a while before realising his mistake. "I'm sorry, I mean <em>he's <em>fine," Yukiko smiled a bit sheepishly and Conan was sure he would be blushing if it wasn't for the latex mask. Conan gave KID the best 'I know it's you'-smile and KID eyed him suspiciously. "All three of you are in on this, aren't you?" His question only got the two others laughing louder.  
>"Ya' were made from tha moment ya' stepped inside!" Hattori stated laughing, while Kogoro, Kazuha and Ran watched them strangely; they didn't understand what was going on.<br>"So you used me as your dinner entertainment," Yukiko pouted and childishly crossed her arms.  
>"Yes, yes we did," Fumiyo smiled and Ran watched the woman pout even worse.<p>

"You're so mean," KID stated annoyed, "here I come to say goodbye to Tantei-kun, and you all just laugh at me!" Conan grinned at him.  
>'Can you read lips?' he mouthed and KID huffed, still in Yukiko personage.<br>"Of course, what do you think I am? An amateur?" KID stared at the child that smiled.  
>'I keep my promises. I'll see you later,' Conan mouthed and KID showed his normal grin, before vanishing in a puff of smoke. "Stupid thief," the shrunken detective muttered as Ran picked up a white note from the table.<p>

"_The food was delicious, Mouri-chan, thank you– Kaitou KID" _

* * *

><p>Kaito was grinning madly; the heist was harder than usual and the near-captures made adrenalin pump through him. The thief ran through a corridor until he reached the elevators and entered one. He chuckled as he waved to the taskforce that was running towards him, and as soon as the doors were closed he opened the hatch on the roof of the descending elevator. The taskforce had been more alert than he'd ever seen them before, but they would go down after the elevator. The thief shot the grappling hook and hit the metal bar five floors above him. Kaito hadn't seen the child since he entered the stairwell, which would mean that Tantei-kun probably was waiting on the roof.<p>

Kaitou KID came bursting through the doors to the roof; he was laughing wildly but quieted down as he glanced around the roof.  
>"Had a fun heist, KID-san?" the thief spun around and stared up on the child that was seated on the small structure that hid the stairwell.<br>"Well, yes," KID beamed and grinned like a madman. "I take it that this fun heist was your work?" he asked as he glanced between the computer, the bowtie and the radio.  
>"Yes, I knew you'd like it, you're a bit," the child frowned as he closed the laptop and placed in its bag, "well, there's no really nice way to put it." Conan spoke slowly as jumped down from the structure. "You're nuts," the small detective stated as he walked past KID, making the thief laugh.<br>"Isn't everyone?" the thief asked while Conan walked to the fence and stared out from the roof.

"That's true; some more than others." KID stared at the child and felt a cold breeze sweep through the evening. Conan chuckled and turned to the thief, he was smiling happier than KID had ever seen him. "I'm going home," he said and that's when KID noticed a black rose in his chest-pocket.  
>"So what's your name?" KID eyed him curiously; the child was mysterious alright, and as a magician he couldn't help but to like mysteries, especially the one that didn't involve violence. Conan held out one hand in front of himself and snapped his fingers. There was a small puff of smoke and he was holding in a present.<p>

"That was very good!" the thief applauded and Conan snapped his other hand.  
>"This is for you," the child smiled as he held a flower and he stuck into the white ribbon on the gift. "Plumeria," the detective smiled, "new beginnings." KID tilted his head; the farewell was strange, and it somehow felt like Tantei-kun was dragging it out.<br>"And the black rose stands for the death of your persona?" KID guessed and the child nodded. "Why are you giving me a gift? Aren't you supposed to catch me?" the thief asked warily; there was a chance that the gift was booby-trapped.  
>"The world consists of more than just black and white, it is full of <em>interesting<em> gray shapes and shades," KID nodded at his words.  
>"That's very wise for a child, Tantei-kun."<p>

"I'm more different than you think I am, and I am certainly not what you think I am," KID narrowed his eyes; that was definitely one of the clues to the child's real identity. "I've put a note in this present for you. I would like you to read it before you look inside. You should open it somewhere where you are safe." The thief nodded and walked up to the child.  
>"I guess you would like the gem now?" he grinned and Conan shook his head.<br>"No, not tonight. Tonight I'm going home." The child smiled brightly and snapped both hands; he was holding one white and one black rose. Conan twirled their stems together and handed him the flowers. "Neither good nor bad, we're both grey."

The teenager smiled at the flowers, wondering what the child meant by _them both_ being grey.  
>"Now it looks like we are getting company," the child said as the rumbling of the taskforce could be heard, "so this is farewell. Goodbye, KID-san." The thief took the present and it disappeared just as Nakamori bolted through the door with a loud yell and Conan left the thief running. KID dodged the taskforce members laughing and covered them in the colours of the rainbow.<p>

* * *

><p>Kaito stared at the gift with suspicion, he was sitting in the car and Jii was driving around the harbour.<br>"Bocchama, are you going to open it?"  
>"I don't know... just keep driving, if he put a tracker in it then we shouldn't lead him home. Oh, could you close the glass doors between us?" Jii nodded and a thin sheet of glass was rolled up in between the front and back of the car as Kaito began to unwrap the gift; who knew what the detective might have put in there. He stared down at it; there was a piece of folded paper in it on top of something covered in a white silk-cloth. Kaito took up the piece of paper and read it;<p>

"_Kaitou KID-san  
>Despite us being rivals and on two different sides of the law, I've come to regard you as a friend, and in that spirit I will protect you. We will not meet again, not as you and Edogawa Conan, but maybe as you and me. The gift in here is something that I made for you, it's just a fake, but now you know what it looks like.<em>

_However, the true Pandora is not out there, and it will never be found again. You see, the first Kaitou KID hid it and gave it a guardian. Anyone who wishes to obtain the gem must kill its guardian, and once the guardian is dead Pandora will be destroyed, so taking the gem is an impossible task. _

_Just as the Kaitou KID before you was a friend of my father, you are a friend of mine. During my investigation of you I found out why you do this and I will help you bring them down, that is my promise to you._

_Even if you didn't have a purpose with what you do, I would not disapprove of it, and therefore I do not see you fit for jail. I see so much death, violence and suffering all around me in this world. You bring wonder, happiness and dreams of magic into to that reality. I cherish that, like so many others, so make sure you're not caught._

Sincerely  
>Edogawa Conan<br>K. 421"

The name Edogawa Conan was crossed out, only leaving the 'K. 421' Kaito took up the cloth from the box, feeling that there was something hard inside and he opened it to see a green gem. He picked it up and knocked on the glass window between him and Jii. Kaito jumped into the front seat and held the gem to the moonlight that shone in through the front window. The green gem glowed red and Kaito hid it in his hand.  
>"Go back, now, we need to find Tantei-kun," Jii had seen the light from the gem and was already turning the car around. Kaito picked up his phone and began to call airport after airport, asking when his flight would leave, in the voice of Edogawa Fumiyo.<p> 


	20. Traces of a Cloud

A/N: I do not have any kind of medical knowledge, so if something is wrong... you understand why.

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

Uploaded: 2012-04-22  
>Revised: 2014-09-15<br>Chapter rating: K+  
>Words: 3,100<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Chap. 20<br>Traces of a Cloud**

Conan smiled happily at Haibara and the professor as he, Hattori and Yukiko entered the lab; it had been rearranged so there were medical equipment and a bed in one part of the room, while the lab had been repressed into the other half.  
>"There's something I have to tell you before I give you the cure," the shrunken scientist stated calmly as Conan crawled up and sat down on the bed. "There will be some side effects, so I suggest that you stay inside your own house at all times, until they subside."<p>

"What kind of side effects?" the detective asked quickly as Yukiko sat down in a chair beside the bed.  
>"Violence, so I suggest that your mother stays with you to help you keep yourself out of sight, it won't be good for you if you accidently assault or even kill someone."<p>

"Will it really be that bad?" he asked and shivered by the thought of losing his own control enough to kill someone.  
>"Yes," Haibara answered in her normal bored manner, "that's the consequence of you taking the poison twice and that's the reason that the cure will work. I can't take the cure, it would kill me, but I don't want it either. I'm going to rebuild my life from scratch." The scientist sighed and continued, "all of the computer tests I've run have shown a significantly elevated hormone and testosterone level, but that will most likely settle down in a couple of weeks, and then you can go back to your life, but until then you will have worse mood swings than a woman on her period."<p>

Yukiko smiled amused, while Hattori laughed at her remark.  
>"Not funny," Conan grumbled and glared at the Osakan detective.<br>"I've given my watch to Yukiko-san, so she can shoot you if you get out of control and you should give her your watch. I've modified needles so they contain a sleep inducing drug that won't mess with the cure. I would be good if Hattori stayed for a couple of days until you can control your outbursts of rage, and don't worry if you find yourself crying without knowing why." Conan grimaced at her words; he didn't like crying.

Hattori snickered, obviously thinking of him crying and Conan sent him another glare.  
>"I don't think I want you here anymore, are you really a friend or are you just enjoying the pain I'm going to have to go through?" the child asked and Hattori shook his head.<br>"It's just fun ta imagine ya' crying, ya' never cries," the detective grinned, "but if ya' need it, I have a shoulder I can lend." Conan stared at him blankly, even though Hattori's words sounded a bit like an insult it felt good to know that he would be there through good and bad times.

"So, all or nothing," Conan smiled at her and she nodded.  
>"I'm going to perform multiple examinations on you later, and test your strength and physical abilities, just to make sure that you're alright." Haibara took up a tray from the bench and filled a glass with water. "It's going to be <em>very<em> slow and _very _painful," she placed the tray on the small table beside him. "Get changed to that," the scientist pointed to the neatly folded clothes at the end of the bed. Conan hadn't even seen them, "and you two should probably get out; if something goes wrong, you'll only be in the way," she declared while giving the other two a glance. Haibara walked to the wall and pulled a small curtain around the bed. "Okay, out with you two," Conan heard her shoo them out, close the door and lock it as he stared at the pill after he'd changed.

"Haibara," Conan questioned with a frown as he read the letters, "why did you name the antidote APTX 421?" Haibara removed the curtain with a small smile.  
>"Haven't you figured out the numbers yet? Or why I told you to sign your love letter with it, <em>meitantei?<em>" Haibara asked and threw him an amused glance.  
>"That wasn't a love letter!" Conan growled in frustration and scowled at her.<br>"If APTX 4869 stands for Sherlock; what do you think the antidote, APTX 421 stands for?" she asked smugly and the detective's eyes widened as he realised what she meant. "Ah! That's why you told me to mark the letter with K. 421! You named it after me! APTX Shi-ni-ichi! It was so easy that I made it harder than it was!" Conan laughed, "I was trying to merge the letters into a word, like 1412!"

"Yes, I thought it was fitting since that thing will kill anyone except you, are you going to take it or not?" Conan smiled as he swallowed the pill and drank the water.  
>"Are you and Agasa-hakase going to watch?" he asked as Agasa sat down beside the bed. The scientist nodded while she started all of the machines around him.<br>"Here, put it in your mouth, it's the occlusal splint we made a week ago," Conan took the splint and stared at the line connected to it.  
>"In case I swallow it?" he asked and raised an eyebrow.<br>"No, it's so I can pull it out without you biting me, after you've grown too big for it."

"I don't feel anything," he commented after a couple of minutes had passed.  
>"I told you that it would be slow," Haibara growled annoyed. "It's as slow as the one I named it after," she added muttering as she pulled up something from underneath the bed and Conan worriedly eyed her.<br>"Restraints?" he commented and Haibara nodded as she threw a glance at her watch. "It's about to begin," the scientist said and pulled out earplugs.

* * *

><p>Kaito frowned, no airport tickets, no boat tickets, were they going to stay in Japan? Jii turned to him and waited for the thief to come up with a plan. The magician pulled out the phone again and dialled the Detective Agency. He waited; there would probably not be an answer because of the late hour, and he smiled when a female answered. "Mouri Detective Agency."<br>"Ran," Kaito said, "I'm sorry that I'm calling so late, is Conan there?"

"Shinichi?" Ran asked stunned and huffed annoyed, "no, his plane left five hours ago, at nine. Was there anything else?" Her tone was harsh and cold; she was still angry with the detective even though she'd begun dating Isamu.  
>"Oh?" Kaito said and frowned; his heist had begun at nine and he'd been speaking with Tantei-kun around twenty minutes after the heist had started, which meant that Tantei-kun had lied again. The thief sighed heavily in frustration, "I'm sorry for keeping you up, goodnight, Ran." Kaito hung up and Jii stared at him wide-eyed.<br>"Bocchama, you used your own voice."

"Yes, my own voice resembles the Detective of the East, Kudou Shinichi's voice," the thief grinned and Jii nodded.  
>"So where do we go from now?"<br>"Hmm, let's see. Tantei-kun lied to Mouri-chan about leaving for a flight. Maybe the creepy Haibara-girl knows." Jii nodded and drove out from the parking lot.

* * *

><p>"Stop here," the thief mumbled and Jii did as he was told.<br>"Bocchama, we're still a couple of blocks away from her house, I could drive closer."  
>"No, I'll go from here, I'm going to break in and steal a pair of those tracking glasses," Kaito grinned at the assistant, "and they have a transmitter, all I'd have to do is match the frequency and plug my tracker into the computer. The Haibara-girl is probably asleep already, so there's no need to poke the sleeping dragon."<p>

Kaito placed the monocle over his eye and placed the hat on his head.  
>"Wait here," he commanded and disappeared into the night. The thief ran through the yards and easily climbed over the walls that separated the enclosed houses until he reached the house he liked the best. The professor's house was fascinating and had an interesting shape; beautiful if you asked Kaito, but then again, the thief fancied any house that made him want to climb on it, and Agasa's house certainly looked like a playground in his eyes. The magician darted around the house as he saw that the lights were still on and he peaked inside the living room.<p>

The detective of the West, Hattori Heiji was sitting on the couch and he looked paler than a sheet. The woman Kudou Yukiko was sitting beside him, even paler than the detective and she was trembling. She held her hands over her mouth and nose. She looked like she wasn't far from either crying or fainting. The detective said something and patted her back. The woman responded with throwing her arms around the teenager and cried on his shoulder. Tantei-han looked tense for a moment before he began mumbling soothing things. Kaito frowned; he didn't understand what was going on. The thief went to the kitchen window and quickly opened it.

"I don't know what I'll do if he starts again," the woman sobbed, "I can't take it! It sounds so painful." Kaito silently entered while eavesdropping on the conversation. "I can't even imagine the pain he must be going through! Oh, my poor, poor, baby-boy!" he heard Yukiko cry.  
>"It must be over by now, all of tha other times he screamed only once an' then turned back," Hattori's voice was weak and a bit strained. "It's been hours, it must be over," it sounded like the detective was trying to reassure himself just as much as the woman.<p>

The detective must've felt watched because he turned his head and scowled at what he saw; Kaitou KID was standing in the room.  
>"Damn it, what are ya' doing here? Get out!" the woman looked up at him and gasped. KID didn't move, so the Osakan sighed annoyed and glared at him, but for some reason didn't chase him away. After a while of staring the door to the basement was opened and Haibara entered the room. She threw a glance at him and chuckled.<br>"I should have known," she said as she walked up to Yukiko and whispered something. Kaito strained his ears but couldn't hear.

The woman ran into the basement and the shrunken scientist turned to KID with an amused smile.  
>"So, Kaitou KID-san what are you doing here?"<br>"You're not surprised to see me," the thief answered and she shook her head. "Where is Tantei-kun?"

"If you're talking about Edogawa-kun, then he's gone. What did he say to you that made you go looking for him?"  
>"Not much, he gave me something, and that something can put him in danger," KID answered as avoiding as he could.<br>"Using your curiosity against you, I think I like his style," the child chuckled amused, "but there's no need for you to worry about Edogawa-kun, he's gone."  
>"Gone as in; gone home, or gone as in; dead?" Kaitou KID asked and Haibara smiled.<br>"Good thief," she praised him like he was a dog. Kaito twitched, he didn't like it. "You know which questions to ask."  
>Kaito decided that, yes, the Haibara-girl was worse than Akako. Had the girl poisoned Tantei-kun before? How could he stand her?<br>"Gone as in gone. Gone as in Edogawa Conan never existed. Gone as in now he doesn't exist. A fake name cannot die and a fake name doesn't have a home." Hattori threw a glance at her, wondering how much the thief knew.

"But the real Tantei-kun, has a home."  
>"Yes," was the only thing she said, obviously enjoying keeping information from him.<br>"Where?" Haibara smirked evilly at him and he narrowed his eyes.  
>"Right next door," she shrugged with a sly smile and Kaitou KID huffed, that was obviously a lie.<br>"Right," he said slowly, "he was hiding you from that organisation, next to his own house. The house of Kudou Shinich-." KID stopped short, K. 421, did it stand for Kudou Shinichi? Had a witch cursed him and then shrunken him to a child? Or were there two witches? How did he manage to anger two witches? Or was there just one _very_ angry witch? Haibara watched with amusement how the thief frowned but then shook his head.  
>"Edogawa Conan is safe, he was put in FBI custody around eleven, and they've moved him out of the country by now," Haibara lied and smirked at the thief.<br>"Oh, I understand," KID said and glanced towards the basement door. "Would you mind if I borrowed a pair of his glasses?" Haibara sighed.  
>"Yes, I would mind; you can't have them."<p>

"Hmm, was Edogawa Fumiyo an FBI agent?" Hattori laughed amused at the question and answered.  
>"No, Edogawa Fumiyo was played by Kudou Yukiko, that's why we knew that ya' were a fake." The thief chuckled and threw another glance at the closed door. Haibara frowned; Kudou-kun wouldn't like it if the thief saw him in the state he was in.<br>"Who were you speaking about earlier?" Haibara huffed; she would need to take action since Kaitou KID had an unlimited supply of curiosity, and he would definitely go down there.  
>"No one," Haibara said as she walked over to the drawers by the door.<br>"Kudou Shinichi," the thief stated, "he's down there, isn't he? That's why Kudou-chan was so upset." The scientist opened one of the drawers and took something out.

"No," Haibara said calmly, "but that doesn't mean that I can let _you_ enter." Suddenly a gun was pointed at KID and he froze  
>"Haibara! Where did ya' get that?" Hattori gasped and stared at the gun.<br>"The FBI, it was Kudou-kun's, but he didn't want it, so I took it," she smirked, "and as little as I want to shoot you, _I will, _and I won't shoot in that bulletproof vest of yours."  
>"Okay," KID said a bit nervously and held up his hands in front of himself; who knew where the child would hit. Did she even know how to use a gun? "What are you hiding down there?" the thief slowly backed towards the window, which he'd entered through.<br>"Get. Out. Now," the shrunken teenager said with eyes cold as ice and the thief darted around and jumped out through the window. "Hattori, shut the window and close all curtains, then you can join us in the lab." Haibara went down into the basement, leaving the detective alone.

Kaito scowl annoyed where he sat in a tree and watched the detective close all curtains in the house. "Jii-chan," Kaito mumbled in his headset, "the crazy Haibara-girl was awake and she chased me out with a gun. They are hiding something in the basement, I think it's Kudou Shinichi."  
>"Really, wasn't he the one that you couldn't find earlier? Are you going to ask him about your father?"<br>"It sounded by their conversation like there was something wrong with him. I'm going to put up cameras at every possible entrance, when he leaves, I'll know it," Kaito said and began putting up the surveillance.

* * *

><p>Hattori was only allowed inside the lab after Haibara had given him a pinch to see so that he wasn't KID in a disguise. Kudou Shinichi was lying in the bed, his hands and legs had been restrained and he was sleeping quietly. Yukiko was patting his forehead with a wet cloth and a relieved look. A heart monitor was beeping and a defibrillator was placed next to them.<br>"How is he?" the Detective of the West wondered and stared at his friend.  
>"He's stable, the worst part is over," she answered and Yukiko sighed as she relaxed. "I don't know how bad his outbursts of rage will be but Hakase and I have made another drug for you, it's stronger, if you run out of the needles, I'll just put it in a gun or something." Haibara paused when Shinichi's heart monitor began having a faster pace. "Hakase, you once told me of a secret way out of the house, where is it?"<p>

"Right next to this room," Agasa answered.  
>"What? A secret way out? Why do ya' have a secret way out?" Hattori quickly asked stunned and Yukiko laughed at his question.<br>"Yuu-chan is the one who owns both houses, he made the passageway in between them so he could run away from the publishers. But they found him sneaking away from this house and posted guards here too." Yukiko giggled and a huff came from the bed.  
>"Kudou! Ya're awake!" Hattori grinned and Shinichi tried to say something but only managed a hissing sound. Shinichi looked confused by that and tried to move his hands but couldn't. He stared at the restraints like he couldn't believe his eyes and then looked at them, demanding an explanation.<br>"He looks calm, you can release him," Haibara said and picked up her laptop from the bench in the lab-part of the room. "Don't try to speak, Kudou-kun," the girl handed him the computer and crawled up on the second chair. "Oh, and I told KID that Edogawa-kun has been placed in FBI custody, so you know."

'What happened? How did I get my body back? Why am I restrained? Secret passageway?' Shinichi wrote in the document and then turned the computer to the others.  
>"How much do you remember?" Haibara asked; she wasn't concerned about his memory loss.<br>'We had dinner and KID was sitting opposite to me.'

"Okay, you've forgotten more than I thought you would. Don't worry, your memories will return, it's caused by the trauma of re-growing your body. It took three hours and seventeen minutes of pure torture, you will regain those memories too," she informed him coldly and Shinichi grimaced; remembering three hours of pain wasn't a pleasant thought. "When you regain your memories, in a couple of hours, you will know why I restrained you and the secret passageway is to avoid the thief that's probably outside the house, he might even be inside by now, but I told him I would shoot him if he entered again." Shinichi laughed, a strange laugh where nothing else but a faint wheeze sounded, he then grabbed his throat with a pained expression.

"The secret passageway!" Yukiko smiled at him, "don't you remember? You always used to play in it, pretending that you chased criminals through it!" His mother giggled and Shinichi frowned, but then gave her an 'are you kidding me'-expression before he wrote something on the computer.  
>'THAT is a <em>secret<em> passageway?'  
>"Yes, Shin-chan," she answered and the detective shook his head.<br>'There are lots of passageways around the house, aren't there?' Shinichi quickly scribbled down and turned the computer.  
>"Yes, there is. Yuu-chan wanted it that way, so that he could 'write better', but I just think he wanted to play in them or run away," Yukiko giggled and Shinichi sighed.<br>'I knew my parents were crazy, but I didn't expect it to this extent,' he wrote on the computer and turned it to Hattori, making the Osakan detective grin amused.


	21. Confinement

A/N: Wow! Thank you for all your reviews! And I agree, a slow Kaito is annoying, don't worry, it'll be fine ;)

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness, weirdness<p>

Uploaded: 2012-04-26  
>Revised: 2014-09-15<br>Chapter rating: K+  
>Words: 2,900<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Chap. 21<br>Confinement**

Shinichi was sitting on his knees on the kitchen floor; he was pulling in his hair and gritting his teeth. He was having another outburst of rage and he was desperately trying to control it. Hattori, who stood a couple of meters away from him, was pointing a gun at the other detective; it was the special tranquilizer gun that Haibara had made for him, in case Shinichi lost a battle with himself.  
>"Kudou?" the Osakan detective asked carefully.<br>"Shut up!" Shinichi roared and tried to take deep breaths. Hattori did as he was told and didn't move from his spot; last time he'd tried to comfort the other, he'd received a black eye for his effort. Suddenly Shinichi released his hair from the iron-grip and leaned on his hands on the floor, he trembled and panted. It was over, for now.

"Kudou," Hattori said worriedly and walked up to his friend, "maybe I should stay a couple of days longer, until ya' can control yerself without destroying anything." The Detective of the West threw a glance at the hole in the cabinet.  
>"Yea, that would be nice of you. I'm afraid that I'll hurt mom. I know you can handle me, but I'm stronger than her. Is there anything you would need in order to stay? Clothes? School books?" Hattori nodded as a response.<br>"I could go tonight after ya've been restrained an' be back early in the morning." Shinichi nodded; he hated being restrained at night, but it was Haibara's order, and he'd quickly complied after she'd presented the possibility that he could kill both Hattori and his own mother at night.

"Hey, Hattori. Thanks. It really means a lot to me," Shinichi smiled at the detective as he was helped up.  
>"Ya'd do it for me," Hattori grinned, "now go get that coffee ya' got angry about. The coffeemaker became done when ya' were having a fit about it being empty." Hattori laughed and Shinichi sent him an annoyed glance as he left the room.<p>

* * *

><p>"Do you know what the most frightening part of the attacks is?" Shinichi began as he entered the library and Hattori looked up from the book he was reading. "I think I can understand why people kill, or at least, why some people kill." Shinichi sat down by the desk and sipped on his coffee. "If someone made them have an attack and they killed that someone, I can understand, and I even think I understand if they tried to cover it up." Shinichi turned his eyes towards Hattori. "It honestly scares me, it <em>terrifies<em> me. Am I becoming like them? Or am I just becoming closer to what they are? How far am I actually, _in this moment_, from being a murderer?" Hattori shook his head with a smile.  
>"Ahou, <em>that<em> is exactly what makes ya' different from them, they don't think like that, they only care about themselves. Ya've been poisoned, an' are still worrying about hurting others, they haven't been poisoned."

The Osakan detective frowned as Shinichi mumbled and stared down into his coffee. "Are ya' having some other kind of attack at the moment, a philosophy attack?" Hattori asked and blinked confused.  
>"I don't know. I feel sick," Shinichi slammed his head on his English homework with a groan.<p>

Just after Shinichi had finished his assignment he had another attack of rage, caused by his annoyance over the homework; making him tear the papers apart only to be forced to redo it after he'd calmed down.

* * *

><p>Shinichi was starting to get used to the antagonising slow pace of the days and began to wander around the house searching for more of the passageways. Yukiko had noticed that his mood swings got worse as dinnertime came, probably due to blood sugar levels and she tried to make him food earlier and with less time in between his meals. However, when dinnertime came that day; Shinichi didn't want to eat and ended up having another rage attack, throwing his empty plate in the floor, forcing it into thousands of pieces. After he'd calmed down he looked so sad and upset that Yukiko couldn't do anything else than to laugh at his cuteness, making her son send her a confused look.<p>

Shinichi stumbled into bed early in the evening; he was so tired that he could barely walk. The attacks were getting worse and more frequent for every day, and he'd been absentmindedly wondering how he would survive if it kept going. His mother and Hattori were speaking, but he couldn't make out what they said; he was too tired. Shinichi felt the soft fabric, covering the metal ring, close around his neck and the smooth leather of his restraints around his wrists.  
>"Goodnight, Kudou," Hattori snickered and put the cover over the other teenager.<br>"Gnn-igh," the almost sleeping detective forced out before falling completely into the arms of unconsciousness.

* * *

><p>It was the first time he'd been able to dream since he got the cure; it was the same annoying dream as always, so of course it had to be about that stupid thief. Shinichi chased Kaitou KID through winding corridors inside whatever dark building the heist had taken place, but there was something different about the dream, he could feel it, and he was closer to the thief than ever before; would he actually catch him? Shinichi chased with growing anticipation; he was indeed getting closer and he smirked predatorily. The thief threw a grin over his shoulder and darted up the stairs. This was it; they would run up the stairs and KID would disappear through the door, but when he finally got through it KID would jump off the building with that annoying grin plastered over his face just after saying, "maybe not this time, Tantei-kun."<p>

Shinichi frowned in his dream; it was indeed different, usually KID would be multiple floors above him setting up traps for him, but now he was right in front of him. Shinichi grinned as he realised that his brain was making up the most probable scenario; there was no way that KID would be able to outrun him in his own body. He was aware that it was all a dream, but he couldn't control anything; he tried to grab the mantle that was swinging just in front of him. His hand went through it and he huffed annoyed, 'of course KID has to be untouchable even though he's right there.'

The detective bolted though the door to the roof; it was empty and Shinichi frowned. The detective slowly walked to the middle of the roof; the thief was nowhere to be seen. A breeze blew by and the door closed with a bang, making him turn around.  
>"I must say, Tantei-kun," Kaitou KID grinned at him, as he leaned on the door looking relaxed and strangely amused, "you are faster in your <em>real <em>body, but not as observant." The moon broke through the clouds and bathed them in its white brilliance. The thief seemed to shine in the glowing light.  
>"Thank you, but I expected you to stand on the edge or have jumped over it, so I didn't think anyone would be up here," Shinichi said and shoved his hands in his pockets. The detective smiled his knowing smirk, waiting for the part of the dream that he'd never seen and KID's grin widened.<p>

"There's something about being chased this way," the thief began and pushed himself off of the door to walk towards the detective. "It's great; the excitement, the danger, the adrenalin," KID walked towards him and his monocle gleamed in the light as he moved with a cat-like stance. He looked breathtaking and Shinichi felt his heart begin to beat faster. The fluttering of the cape in the breeze made him mesmerized and very step brought the thief closer to him. KID stopped in front of him and carefully traced Shinichi's jaw with a gloved hand. "But then again, maybe this is all I want," a pair of lips met the teenager's and he did nothing to stop it. Shinichi sneaked his arms around the thief's waist and pulled him closer, feeling a smirk against his own lips. "Yes, this is what I want," the thief whispered against his lips and Shinichi took the opportunity to sneak his tongue into KID's mouth. Their tongues battled and Shinichi hummed in pleasure. Yes, this was what he wanted.

The detective opened his eyes with a panicked gasp and quickly surveyed his surroundings; it was dark, he was alone, the watch showed that it was six thirty in the morning and he sighed in relief. Shinichi could feel how his cheeks were heated, but so was his entire body and his heart was beating hard and fast.  
>'Yes, this is what I want,' he repeated the words and stared wide-eyed into the ceiling. It couldn't be so; he, Kudou Shinichi could <em>not<em> have a crush on Kaitou KID, but the delightful humming of pleasure and anticipation in his veins said otherwise. He heard the thick ropes move as he lifted his hands and watched them tremble before his eyes.

No, it was worse than just a simple infatuation; he felt hunger and need. Passion; it was burning through every inch of him with desire. He wanted the thief, needed him beyond reason, and hungered for his lips and taste. Shinichi bit his lip as a wave of pleasure rushed thorough him just by the thought of KID and he closed his eyes in shame. He was in love with a thief and a man; what would he do? He knew that Kaitou KID tried to lure out his predecessor's murderers, and in his shoes, Shinichi would have done the same thing, but to the world, he was a thief. Even if he ignored the fact that he was a thief; only approximately ten percent of the human species were right out gay, the possibility that the thief was it too were very low. The statistics were raised a little once he added in all of the bisexual people. Shinichi had been in love with Ran, right? He'd imagined them getting married and taking care of their kids, but never anything physical, and the thought of going any further than a kiss with her made him grimace, while he'd right out enjoy stripping Kuroba Kaito out of his clothes.

Did that make him homosexual or bisexual? Shinichi frowned and suddenly remembered a sentence that Haibara had whispered to him before she left; something that he didn't understand at the time, and his blush darkened. Haibara knew about his love, what else could; 'feel free to tell me about your moonlit dreams, I have nothing against that,' mean? And in his confusion he'd said 'okay, sure' without realising what she'd hinted at, and that explained why she laughed at him. The more he thought about all the strange things Haibara had said to him while silently laughing at him, the more he realised that; yes, she did know. Fact was fact, and he couldn't ignore the intense heat that rushed through him, just by the mere thought of a kiss from the phantom. Shinichi narrowed his eyes in his musings; it could be the cures fault and maybe he wasn't in love at all. The cure messed with his chemical balance so love could be a weird side effect, right?

Shinichi threw a glance at the night table. His phone was lying there and the alarm clock showed him that thirty minutes had passed. The detective picked up the phone and called the shrunken scientist. "Ah, h-hello, Haibara," he said blushing, "I have a question." Haibara snickered in the other end.  
>"Wait, let me guess," she said with an amused smirk; she'd waited for that call. "You had a <em>naughty<em> dream about that phantom thief of yours?" Shinichi coughed; Haibara did know.  
>"Um, kind of," he said slowly and blushed deeper, "not as '<em>naughty' <em>as you might be thinking. My question is; could this be caused by the cure in any way?"

"No," she answered simply with a voice full of amusement.  
>"I said in <em>any<em> way."  
>"The answer is still no; you've been in love for quite some time."<br>"How did you _know_, before me, that I, that I'm-" Shinichi threw a glance on the curtains covering his window.  
>"In love," Haibara finished his sentence with glee.<br>"Yes, how did you know, before me?" he quickly added and she gave him a tsk.  
>"Come on, Kudou-kun, the only clueless person here is you and anyone with more than half a brain could see that. You were like a little schoolgirl, and the only missing from your behaviour was you, drawing hearts around his picture. I'm almost surprised that the Detective Boys didn't see it, but I guess that's because they don't really have <em>that<em> kind of feelings yet or maybe it was because of the taboos; the age-difference, two boys _and_ a detective-thief relation. They thought it was just because you constantly failed in catch him."

"The fun thing is, you could catch him if you wanted to, couldn't you?" Haibara said and he could hear the smirk she was giving him, "but you only wanted to play with him, solve his riddles, elude his escape plan and wait by the exit just to show off and to tell him to do better next time." Haibara laughed and Shinichi blushed, everything she said made sense to him. "If you want to captivate that thief of yours, don't play by his rules; make him play by yours. Okay, enough with the fun stuff; how are the attacks?"  
>"Awful, they're only getting worse, and there's less time between them. Hattori is going to stay a bit longer too, to protect mom from myself. I almost attacked her yesterday at dinner, but I threw a plate in the floor instead, is there no calming drug you can give me?"<br>"No, not that wouldn't compromise the cure and you're still not back in your body even if it looks like it. Would you like to turn back to Edogawa-kun for the rest of your life? And the worsening of the attacks is to be expected, they are going to get worse before they get better. I told your mother about it yesterday after you'd gone to sleep; she was worried that something was wrong when you fell asleep so fast." Haibara chuckled, "she's promised not to hesitate to shoot you."

"Yo, Kudou! Ya're up," Shinichi closed the phone with a last bye and smiled at his friend.  
>"Care to untie me?" he asked and Hattori grinned at him.<br>"Ya're not gonna bite me?" he joked and received an annoyed glare. "Ya' know what Kudou? Ya've gotten yerself a houseguest."  
>"You're going to stay, for how long?" Shinichi's restraints were loosened and he massaged his itching wrists.<br>"At least two ta three weeks, an' if ya' get better before that I'll have ta go home according ta dad," the Osakan detective grinned, "mom would go ta pick up some more books from school today, but I took what I already had at home."

"When she comes over, you'll have to warn me so I can hide, I don't want to have an attack when someone sees me," Shinichi mumbled as he changed into his normal clothes, "um, by the way, what did you tell your dad?"  
>"Almost tha truth, that ya'd been poisoned an' tha untested cure made ya' violent, so ya' asked me ta help yer mom so she wouldn't get hurt. Dad accepted it almost too easy, but then again, I've never really had any trouble with school an' tha only problems are tha stupid tasks I refuse ta do," Hattori looked annoyed and Shinichi smiled amused when he listened to the Osakan detective's rant as they went into the kitchen., "I don't get how ya' can be so, <em>so thorough,<em> on every damn paper!"

"Mom," Shinichi began as he saw her, "where's dad?" Yukiko smiled mischievously at her son.  
>"Oh, he's in Greece, 'meeting' you," she chuckled amused, "he's luring the reporters away from us, they are hunting him as we speak and last night they almost got him. He sounded like he had a great time!" she giggled and clasped her hands together with an amused smile. The detective smiled a little; of course his dad would love being chased by nosy reporters. He was probably imagining himself to be a criminal and left clues for the reporters so they wouldn't stop chasing him, which in turn would allow him to continue to live in his little fantasy. Shinichi sighed; his family was nuts and he had their genes, suddenly being in love with an internationally wanted phantom thief seemed more reasonable.<p>

* * *

><p>"Kudou," Hattori said after almost the whole day had gone by, they were seated in the library and studying, "ya' haven't had any fit today, have ya'?" Shinichi looked up from his math to stare at the detective.<br>"No," he said after a while with a frown. The teenager threw a glance at his left hand that was twirling two coins with an impressive speed. Since his brain went on auto-pilot whenever he did math he'd been thinking about the dream and what to do about it all day, and maybe that was it; all he needed to do to stay calm was to think about KID, and perform sleight of hand, but that didn't work well with his other plan to _not_ think about KID and to ignore his feelings for him. Shinichi sighed a bit depressed, "who knows, the attacks might come as spasms."


	22. Playing Games

A/N: Since Haibara has a very high threshold for pain, just like all the other members of the Black Organisation, I assume that there is some kind of basic training for the members, and just that she freezes every time she meets one of them.

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness,<p>

Spoiler to:  
>Movie 5: Countdown to Heaven<br>Movie 13: The Raven Chaser  
>OVA 4: Conan, KID, and the Crystal Mother<p>

Uploaded: 2012-04-28  
>Revised: 2014-09-15<br>Chapter rating: T  
>Words: 3,400<p>

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><p><strong>Chap. 22<br>Playing Games**

An entire week had gone by, and Kaito was pacing annoyed in the secret room. He hadn't been able to locate Tantei-kun and no Kudou Shinichi had left the professor's house. He'd even been inside a couple of times looking for the glasses, which he couldn't find; it could be that Tantei-kun brought all of them with him and the Haibara-girl just wanted to mess with him. He'd even been down to the basement; there had been a bed and medical equipment in one end of the room and a lab in the other, but no detective. Kaito frowned in thought, 'they must've gotten the Kudou-guy out some other way, disguised him? A tunnel?' the thief sighed, 'why would the professor have a tunnel?'

After the visit and the gun-waving he'd decided that 'K. 421' most likely meant Kudou Shinichi and he'd gone to Akako and asked about witches again; she'd refused to say anything so he'd had to offer her a fun day out, together with him. They'd gone on a date and he'd been forced to court her like a gentleman. Akako had been pleased with him and answered his question in the evening, but it had led nowhere. Shrinking someone from a teenager to a child was nothing a witch could do. Akako could shrink someone's physical body, yes, but not their age and the person wouldn't look like a child; apparently not even witches could go against the flow of time even though they could slow it down.

However, 'K.421' had been written by Tantei-kun, and might, therefore, not be as simple as it looked, or it was as simple as it looked and Kudou Shinichi could tell him about Tantei-kun or about Pandora; Tantei-kun knew that _that_ was what KID wanted. Only magic could shrink people from teenagers to kids, right? Kaito stopped pacing and stared at the picture of his father.  
>"How, dad? How can it make sense that a teenager has been shrunk into a kid?" Kaito asked the picture and was only answered with a heavy silence; it made sense, in a strange, magical, completely imaginary way. It explained all of the strangeness of Tantei-kun; Why he acted both mature and childish, why the crazy professor made gadgets for him, why Tantei-han was helping him to sedate Tantei-baka, why Tantei-kun was so good at what he did; football, deductions, avoiding traps and kicking hellish balls at completely innocent, harmless, unsuspecting phantom thieves.<p>

Kaito sighed and started pacing again. Edogawa Conan and Kudou Shinichi wasn't like each other, they were very similar according to the old TV interviews of Kudou that he'd watched, but not the same. Whatever had happened to Kudou had been enough to change his personality, assuming that Tantei-kun was Kudou, but that didn't make any sense! What other than magic could shrink people? The poison? Kaito frowned in annoyance at the thought, _'the poison, APTX 4869, if not lethal had 'annoying' side effects?_' The thief huffed, 'poisons don't shrink people.'

The only leads the magician had left was the creepy Haibara-girl and the Kudou-guy, but the Kudou-guy had been gone for ages so that meant he would have to go there and ask the girl; maybe she would tell him if he said that his organisation was after Tantei-kun? Kaito nodded to himself; he would have to tell her a bit of his story.

* * *

><p>Haibara was sitting by the professor's workbench when she felt watched, but it wasn't a malevolent eye and she knew of only one who had that kind of aura.<br>"KID-san, I'm surprised to see you here," she said but didn't turn around and just kept working, "I thought that you had already broken in enough times to know that I've destroyed the glasses." Haibara smirked; she was almost done and when she was, she would get revenge for the time that KID went through her wardrobe.  
>"How did you know that I was here, little Ojou-san?" he asked and she huffed annoyed at the name.<br>"I was part of that organisation for a long time and you don't survive without a sixth sense, so to speak," an evil smirk played on her lips as she finished the tool and put it down.  
>"Tantei-kun gave me a replica of Pandora," KID started and Haibara almost interrupted him.<br>"I know, I helped him make it."

"Then you're in danger too, the organisation that want the gem is after me because I'm going to destroy it," Kaito stated but couldn't see how the child smirked amused.  
>"You're the only one who knows that I helped make the gem, so I'm only in danger if you tell them that. Is there really an organisation after you?" she asked and glared at him over her shoulder and Kaito nodded. "Have they tried to kill you?" Kaito nodded again and the Haibara-girl smirked. "Did you tell Edogawa-kun this?"<br>"Inadvertently, but yes," he answered and she looked thoughtful for a moment. "Has he known this for long?" Kaito nodded and she chuckled.

"Well, that explains that," she mumbled to herself and Kaito frowned. "I wouldn't worry about them," the Haibara-girl said and turned back to whatever she'd been doing and he gaped.  
>"How can you say that? They are very dangerous," she huffed at his words, "they won't hesitate to shoot you, they are the same as the organisation that the FBI brought down!" To Kaito's confusion the Haibara-girl chuckled amused.<p>

"I very much doubt _that_," Haibara spun the chair so that she faced the thief and he could tell that she was indeed amused. "You told Edogawa-kun about them, which means that he has had a lot of time thinking about it and he probably already has a plan with how to bring them down, and is just waiting for the correct time. And about the dangerous part of the organisation, I don't think they are. You always say when and where you'll show up and you're not exactly hard to spot on a heist. If the organisation you're talking about is as bad as mine, then you would be dead. They would've either just shot you in the head or blown up the entire heist-building," she sighed and stared at him. Kaito was speechless; the girl had no sense. "Tell me the most dangerous encounter you've had with them," she demanded and he thought about it.

"Maybe my first encounter with them, but I think I would go with when I stole Crystal Mother, the assassin lured a child up on the roof of the train and then decided to shoot at me, I couldn't do anything because he had a hostage," Kaito said and the Haibara-girl snorted at him.  
>"That's it?" she said with amusement, "that's what you've been dealing with? Some half-ass assassin who got his gun in a cereal box?" Kaito lost his poker face and grimaced; the girl couldn't be serious, could she?<p>

"I heard from Edogawa-kun about what happened at the initial takedown, and I must say that I overestimated you. You're too flamboyant and you're not observant enough to deal with a _real_ organisation. It was a good thing that you were there to help them and you were _very_ lucky that you disguised as Vermouth. I always knew that Gin had a thing for her, even though they hated each other, and that's the only reason that you didn't end up with a bullet in your _head_. Gin couldn't shoot her even if he knew you were a fake, or maybe it was because he wanted you to feel as much pain as possible before you died. Now, allow me to tell you what Edogawa-kun had to deal with."

"Do you remember the news of the black helicopter, mounted with a machinegun that shot at the Tokyo tower and then crashed?" the child stated bored and Kaito nodded. "That was Gin, Vodka, Chianti and Korn, and they were shooting at Edogawa-kun. The helicopter chased him to the top where he jumped off the tower. He used the elasticity suspenders to slingshot a lamp at the helicopter, effectively taking it down without them seeing that they were chasing a mere child." Kaito paled; that was worse than anything he'd encountered with Snake. "However, he wouldn't have survived if Irish hadn't protected him with his life." There was a silence and Kaito thought of what impact something like that would have on a child, or maybe he wasn't a child.

"Just as an example of bombings: Do you remember the bombings at the Twin Tower Buildings?" Kaito narrowed his eyes and nodded; the bombings had been on the news for weeks. "It was their work again. The Detective Boys and I were trapped by the fire, and Edogawa-kun used his skateboard to jump in between the buildings to help us. We ended up in a room filled with timed bombs, so we used a car to drive through the window and used the explosion as an accelerator, making us able to land in the pool of the other building." Kaito stared at her in shock; he hadn't known that the organisation was so dangerous, it made Snake seem friendly.

"That's unbelievable, are you really telling the truth?" KID mumbled with a frown and Haibara smiled at him.  
>"Yes, and how about a little game, if I was part of the organisation what would you do?" the scientist picked up the tool she'd been building and the thief didn't look amused.<br>"The gun again, why do you always point a gun at me, little Ojou-san?" KID held up his hands with a deadpanned expression on his face and Haibara glared at him.  
>"This one is for Yukiko-san and I know of a more fitting name than 'little Ojou-san', which only annoys me. Why don't you call me Science-san?" KID raised an eyebrow and she continued with a grin, "you know, because science is a cold-hearted bitch." KID cleared his throat, and Haibara knew that he hid a laugh behind it. "Fitting, isn't it?" she smirked and KID eyed the gun.<br>"So, Science-san, what game are you going to force me to play?"

"If I were the assassin that's after you, show me what you would do in this situation." There was a puff of smoke and KID was gone. "As I said before, when dealing with a real organisation you have to be alert," Haibara smirked amused as she glanced over the room and found an inconsistency. She pointed the gun to the other end and fired, the dart went right through 'the wall'. "Let me guess, I struck your vest just above your heart." The wall disappeared and an annoyed KID appeared.

"Yes," he said as he walked back into the middle of the room, "you made a dart gun?" He pulled out the dart from the clothes and stared at it.  
>"Yes, now let's increase the odds. I'll use the basic training every high level member receives and we'll see who can catch who," Haibara smirked evilly; knowing that she would get revenge.<br>"And what do I get if I win?" KID asked with his poker face in full effect.  
>"I'll tell you Edogawa's real name, how you can find him or anything you'd possibly want to know," Haibara saw how determination showed in KID's visible eye.<br>"What are we waiting for then, little Ojou-san?" There was a large puff of smoke and once it dissipated neither KID nor Haibara were to be seen.

* * *

><p>The shrunken scientist watched with amusement how the thief thought he'd found her behind the workbench; she'd thrown her handkerchief behind it and gone for the stairs. As he sneaked closer on all fours and hid behind the couch she smiled victoriously and dropped down on him. Haibara threw an arm around his neck and grabbed into the front of his suit, and at the same time placed the gun against his temple. Kaitou KID twitched and she grinned.<br>"Bang, you're dead," she mumbled and he glanced over his shoulder. "Just because I found this amusing I'll give you _one_ more chance," the gun disappeared from the thief's temple and Haibara smirked at him.

"Or do you give up?" she asked as she released him and got to the floor.  
>"Fine, you won round one, but I'll win the next," he said with a grin and dropped another smoke bomb. The scientist moved quickly through the smoke-filled room and went for the window. Haibara pushed the curtain so that it was different from before and then quickly placed her slippers so they were barely visible underneath the other. She then quickly and silently made her way underneath the living room's table.<p>

Kaito quickly went up the flight of stairs, hid and then listened for the child. He heard a rustle from the windows and smiled; he knew where she was. The smoke cleared and he could see her slippers underneath one curtain and the opposite one had moved slightly; the girl went with the same tactic again and this time he would win, or was it a double trick? Or a triple trick? Kaito frowned and then smiled; she was just a child even though she was smart.

The thief pulled out his can of pink gas and silently sneaked down the stairs. 'She must be waiting for me to go for the slippers, but she's smart so she'll know that I'd go for the other curtain, so she's hiding with her slippers. Or did she just place the slippers underneath one curtain and hid behind the other, using the same tactic as before?' he mused as he sneaked up on the other curtain and just as he touched it; he felt a sharp pain in the back of the leg. He spun around and the evil little Haibara-girl grinned at him from underneath the table as he fell to the floor. He felt incredibly stupid; of course he should have checked _there_ first.  
>"You don't see me as an equal, that's why you lost," he heard her say as he drifted off to sleep.<p>

* * *

><p>The charm from the once-detective's monocle swung by every movement he made and his mantle whirled behind him. Shinichi ran up the stairs and grinned as he tugged the hat closer to his eyes. The taskforce was glued to the stairs three flights down and he could hear their angry shouts; making him laugh uncontrollably as he bolted through the door to the roof.<br>"Did you have a fun time, fake-san?" an irritated voice asked from behind him and he turned around. Kaitou KID stood on the structure to the door and he looked angry as he dropped down. Shinichi shivered and backed away from him; he didn't want to anger KID, only impress him. "I don't like it when someone uses my name the way you do, I'm very protective of it," the thief stated coldly and pulled out his card gun. The detective danced around the cards like he'd done countless of times and the thief hummed amused. "Oh~," he chuckled as he stopped firing and leaned the gun on his shoulder, "you're good."

"Coming from you, that truly means the most to me, KID-san," Shinichi said grinning, took of his hat and bowed theatrically. That was when the fantasy became what all of his dreams about KID ended with. "So how are you going to punish me for my insolence?" he asked tauntingly with a wolf's grin, making KID chuckle.  
>"Yes," the thief hummed and began to walk around him in a slow circle. "How should I <em>punish <em>you?" the real KID asked and Shinichi smirked expectantly; he knew exactly what would happen. The thief stopped in front of him with the same smirk that said nothing about what he was thinking about. "Let me show you," KID grabbed into Shinichi's suit and tripped him so he landed on his back. "How about this?" the thief asked tauntingly while he quickly straddled the detective and gave him a passionate kiss, which made him lose all sense.

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><p>When Shinichi woke up he was having a dreamy smile and his body was burning with desire. The detective had decided that he loved the feeling of being aroused; he felt so alive compared to the futility and desolate as Conan. His entire being was shivering with ecstasy and his brain had gone into a blissful state of joyous love. Dazed he thought about the dream; even though it didn't make sense to make out on the roof and then the next moment be naked in his bed, he was amused that he'd been pretending to be Kaitou KID just to impress him.<p>

'Doing something like that would definitely get the thief's attention, but so would going to the heists as a detective,' the detective yawned, all he had to do now was wait for his body to calm down before he called for his mother or Hattori to release him. After the first dream, he'd told them that they didn't have to wake him and that he could just use his phone to call them once he'd awakened. It was a safety measure; he didn't know if he would moan, or even worse, say anything in his sleep. What if he begged? Shinichi shivered at the thought; Hattori would die laughing if he heard it.

During the days that had passed since Hattori became a houseguest he'd been trying different things and realised that his outbursts was indeed connected to his emotions; it was like the cure had enhanced them a thousandfold. Going with his original plan to not think about KID and ignore his feelings for him had made him cry for an entire day and that had been bad. He'd curled up in fetal position and Hattori had patted his back a bit awkwardly, until he fell asleep and when he awakened he'd started all over again. Trying to convince his brain with 'fine fine, I'll think about KID, and I won't give him up' hadn't helped either.

After that tiresome day he'd been forced to scrap plan A and simply think about KID; however, there was a problem with plan B too. Shinichi would be stuck in his happy daze when he thought about the thief, but as soon as his thoughts touched on the subject of the people who were shooting at KID, he'd have an outburst of rage. Kaitou KID was after all his thief, yes, _his_. Shinichi had decided that Kaitou KID was _his_ and he was extremely protective of him. The detective would steal KID's attention and he would protect him at _all_ _cost_; that was what he'd promised himself. Shinichi had stopped caring about how small chance it was that the thief would accept his feelings and begun to plot ways to lure him away from the heists and to himself. It didn't matter if the thief accepted him or not; Shinichi would be happy as long as he could see him, and Kaitou KID would love a good challenge. The nagging problem with that plan was; when would the attention not be enough? How long would it take him to want more than what they had?

The detective had a plan with which he could catch KID's organisation, but that plan risked the thief's life so he scraped it too, not knowing that his subconscious already had hatched a solution. An extremely risky plan, but with help from the right people he just might be able to pull it off with a small risk and when his brain provided him with the plan, he'd sighed and deemed it as impossible.

But the plan still lingered there and he kept thinking about it, and the more he thought about it, the more pieces were added to it; making it a better plan. It was a scheme more dangerous than he'd ever thought he'd be able to come up with, oh yes, he, Kudou Shinichi, was protective of the thief to the extent that he'd happily risk his life for him. All he had to do was convince Haibara and the professor to help him make the necessary tools.

Shinichi got up from the chair and closed the math books. "Just going to the bathroom," he lied as Hattori got up to follow him. Shinichi looked calm so the Detective of the West simply nodded and got back to the studying. Shinichi smiled as he took the single-needled watch from the kitchen table and went down to the 'secret' passageway that consisted of a locker in the basement.

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><p>AN: For those of you that wonder what Haibara was speaking about in the beginning, she meant the visits that Conan had made to the police station.


	23. The Uninvited Guests

A/N: There's a subchapter to this one. I didn't put it inside this chapter because it became very weird, but you can read it in 'Pieces of the Puzzle', the URL is at the bottom of this page. You don't necessarily need to read it, since it's not really important to the story.

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness,<p>

Uploaded: 2012-05-01  
>Revised: 2014-09-15<br>Chapter rating: K+  
>Words: 2,500<p>

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><p><strong>Chap. 23<br>The Uninvited Guests**

Shinichi smiled happily as he entered the living room but then frowned while he glanced around; there was a strange dust-like smell, the same smell that he recognized from the heists and that he only knew came from Kaitou KID's smoke bombs. The detective shrugged to himself and decided to ignore the bizarre smell; it was Hakase's house after all, the smell could come from anywhere.  
>"Oi, Haibara!" Shinichi called out loudly as he rocked back and forth on his feet; he was feeling happy as he'd come to a conclusion, but he wasn't ridiculously happy like when he had an attack of joy. Those attacks were absolutely absurd; all he would do was roll on the floor and laugh, while Hattori would stand and snicker at him for looking utterly pathetic.<br>"Kudou-kun?" Haibara's voice came from inside her room and then a loud thump was heard.  
>"Yes, it's me!" Shinichi yelled and then frowned as he heard the rattling of chains. "Haibara? What are you doing?" he asked carefully after he'd walked over to her door and knocked on it.<br>"You can come in," she answered after a while and he froze as he opened the door.

There were _things_ all over her floor; glowsticks, roses, gas bombs, a white lighter, a spray bottle, flash bombs, scattered decks of cards, feathers, roller-skates with engines, colourful pieces of confetti, a white gasmask, lots of small bottles containing colourful liquids, ropes, an extendable scooter with a small engine on the back, multiple rolls of duct tape, about a dozen multicoloured, palm-sized 'bombs', makeup, Hakuba's pocket watch, multiple latex masks and different articles of clothing, ranging from skirts and pants to dresses and shirts, a metal flask, which most likely contained alcohol, white egg-shaped gas bombs, Kaitou KID's hat, card gun, grappling hook and mantle, extended into the thief's glider.  
>"Kudou-kun, what are you doing here <em>unsupervised<em>?" the shrunken teenager asked annoyed and glared at him as she locked the last of the chains that went around a big trunk.  
>"I sneaked away because I had a question that I wanted to ask you in private, but now I have more than one," the detective said as he stared at the things and handed over the watch to her, in case he got out of control.<p>

A cooing behind him made him spin around and look up on top of a shelf; four doves were perched there and staring at him. Shinichi blinked confused and tilted his head; the doves mimicked him and tilted their heads simultaneously while cooing gently. The detective suddenly recognized two of them; Kaoru and Michi.  
>"Kaoru-chan? Michi-chan?" he asked and his eyes widened as all of the doves leaped down from the shelf and flew towards him. Three of them seated themselves on his shoulders while one landed in his hair. He had a strong suspicion that the one in his hair was Michi as the dove started to make a nest on top of his head. Haibara snickered and Shinichi sent her a confused glance.<p>

"Haibara, what's going on?" he asked cautiously and slowly relaxed; he'd been spending enough time with KID's doves to not worry about them defecating on him.  
>"I think they like you," Haibara smiled up at him, not answering on his question and quietly laughing at something he didn't know. The scientist knew that they most likely mistook the detective for their owner; Kudou-kun's voice was very similar to Kaitou KID's and Haibara was not above unmasking an unconscious thief, which she rightfully and honestly won over. She'd been surprised over his appearance; Kaitou KID was young, around her real age, and almost looked like a Kudou-clone, but with a wilder air around him. She'd known that he looked a lot like Kudou-kun, but she hadn't thought he'd look like the detective's own twin; that added a lot of humour to their relationship if Kudou-kun ever managed to win the thief's heart.<br>"That was not what I meant," the detective muttered and started to pet Kaoru.

"Oh, I'm playing a little game," she said, knowing exactly what he was wondering about, and smirked evilly.  
>"Is that KID's hat? And <em>all<em> of his gadgets?" Shinichi asked and measured the trunk with his eyes; it would be big enough to fit the thief.  
>"Yes, or maybe... They are Kaitou KID's, but I'm not sure if it's all of them. I'm going to <em>play<em> with them," she smiled contently as she picked up the grappling hook from the floor and pulled the reluctant detective out of her room. "You know," she started annoyed and hindered him from asking more questions, "ever since I stopped working on the cure I've become restless. I need to do something and I've actually taken up the research again, but this time I'm not trying to create the fountain of youth. I'm going to see if I can cure cancer, or something." The girl kept talking as they walked and Shinichi glanced over his shoulder.  
>"Did you put KID in the trunk?"<p>

"My research is in that trunk. And how would I first catch him and then put him in a trunk? What do I look like? The Hulk?" Haibara looked at him like he was an idiot as she seated herself by the workbench and started to disassemble the grappling hook.  
>"You're right, that was a stupid question. Um, why do you have his things?" the detective asked and she laughed a little.<br>"He came by and refused to go away without answers, I pulled a gun on him and forced him to strip his toys," the scientist chuckled and Shinichi blushed; at the words 'forced him to strip' he'd been unable to stop himself from seeing an image of KID taking of his clothes in a very _distracting _manner.

Haibara was staring at him as he shook the image out of his head and she smirked amused as she glanced down on her watch.  
>"You thought of him stripping, didn't you?" she looked up at him and he cleared his throat as he tried to suppress the even deeper blush that made its way to his face.<br>"Congratulations, it took you three minutes to get out of your daydreaming," she informed him amused and turned back to her project.  
>"Eh, my original question was if you could help me with something, I need to make more Pandora replicas, but they should have the shape of a teardrop," she hummed contently; she'd known that he'd must've come up with a plan of some kind, but with his current state of delusional cleverness she'd have to ask how good it could be.<br>"You have a plan to bring down the smugglers," Haibara stated as she glanced at him with a smirk and he nodded. "Tell me the plan."

* * *

><p>She laughed, and Shinichi blushed; he knew that the plan wasn't what any sane person would've come up with, but he wasn't sane, at least not since he fell in love with the thief, or was that since he was born into the Kudou family?<p>

Haibara's laugher at his plan had hurt and he closed his eyes; he'd thought that it was a good plan and now he felt like he was about to start crying again. There was a silence for a while until Haibara took his hand and he opened his eyes.  
>"Listen Meitantei," the scientist said and he was surprised that there was no irony in her voice, "I'm going to help you." She handed him KID's hat with a smile; knowing that it would work like a teddy bear to him. The detective blushed as he took it in his hands; he hadn't even noticed that she'd left. Shinichi carefully caressed the silk; it was so soft and he started smiling again. "Now, that plan of yours is <em>basically<em> a good plan, but it's far from done and if it's going to work we'll need the help from the police," Haibara smiled as Shinichi placed the hat on his head with slightly shaky hands.

Michi, who was contently attached in his hair ended up inside the hat, but that was normal to her; she was used to her owner's antics and sudden movements. The detective tried to smile the same confident smirk that KID always wore and Haibara became amused; The dove had ruffled up Shinichi's otherwise tamed hair so he now looked a lot more like the doves' real owner.  
>"Now that's it! You look just like him!" she grinned and Shinichi's blush deepened. "I've got some things that I need to deal with, can I come by tomorrow so we can discuss the plan in private and tweak it?"<p>

Shinichi nodded and reluctantly pulled the hat off. After a while of trying to get the doves to not crawl into his clothes and follow him home he was on his way. Hattori had been so engrossed in the book that he hadn't even noticed that Shinichi's trip to the bathroom had been over half an hour. That was until the Detective of the West asked where the dove came from and Shinichi had been surprised that he hadn't even noticed that Kaoru had sneaked with him. He then opened the window so that she could fly away whenever she wanted and then let her sit on his shoulder as he continued to study. Hattori was left in the dark as Shinichi refused to say where the bird came from.

* * *

><p>Kaito opened his eyes, but it was completely dark wherever he was, and a thought of being buried alive crossed his mind. His back and head was hurting; what had happened after he fell asleep? There was something over his nose and mouth. He touched it warily; it was plastic mask and he breathed through it, who knew that the crazy girl could've done to him; maybe she'd operated away his eyes? Kaito touched his unprotected eyelid and was happy that it was still intact. The magician patted his pockets; they were almost entirely empty but he found a small glowstick, which he took and broke. He had an oxygen mask over his face and he was in a trunk of some kind; that explained the pain, she'd dragged him over the floor. The magician pushed on the lid and opened it slightly ajar. He was in her room, and it was empty so he pushed it up more only to hear the sound of multiple chains being stretched to their full length. The gap was only big enough for him to get his fingers out.<p>

Kaito pouted; he'd been outdone by a child and locked in a trunk by her, or was she a child? The magician sighed as he pulled out a deck of cards and placed as many cards as he could fit into the slit; he was beginning to get annoyed by his thoughts of who was and wasn't a child. He then saw that his hat was placed on a chair just outside and he quickly touched the monocle; it was still in its place. He gaped as he glanced to the floor; if he didn't know better he'd say that he, himself, had swallowed a bomb and exploded inside her room. There were a lot of his stuff scattered around the floor and his card gun was missing. He tried to get out of the trunk; he pushed, kicked and tried to move the chains, but there was no point, the chains were too strong and he didn't have anything usable.  
>"Haibara-chan," he called out quietly; begging to all deities that she hadn't called the police. They would've laughed at him, towed him away and then opened the trunk inside his new home in prison, not knowing that he was still underage. "Haibara-chan!" he called louder and heard a snicker as she entered.<p>

"Hello, Prisoner-kun. You're finally awake, it took you long enough. I was starting to get bored. Was there anything you wanted?" he saw her teal eyes through the gap and he swallowed his pride; begging would probably not work on her but he had to try.  
>"Please, please, let me out of here, Haibara-chan," he begged and he saw how amusement showed in her eyes.<br>"No, I don't think you've learnt your lesson," the Haibara-girl said and he could hear her demonic smirk, "I could just call the police, but then my fun would be over." The very, very evil girl chuckled and Kaito frowned.  
>"May I ask <em>what<em> lesson?" he mumbled carefully and the girl glared at him.  
>"This is your punishment for going through my <em>underwear<em> while looking for the glasses," her eyes had turned to ice and he twitched; he'd been certain that his search had gone unnoticed, "it's very inappropriate for a young man like yourself to dig through a woman's underwear."

Kaito restrained a huff, 'woman' wasn't a term that described a third grader, but he didn't have anything to gain by making her angry.  
>"Can't I just say that I'm sorry and you'll let me go?" he asked hopefully and she grinned.<br>"No, I'm going to keep you in there until I'm satisfied with your begging." Kaito felt how his patience began to fade.  
>"What if I don't beg, what if I just sing very falsely, like Tantei-kun?" he tried and received another chuckle.<br>"You could try, but you'll only end up being a Kaitou-Box for a longer period of time, and Edogawa-kun's singing never affected me. Now that we've established that, you can continue to show me the skill of that charm that everyone seems to think that you have. You can call me Haibara-sama or Science-san," the she-devil chuckled at him and he sighed in defeat.

* * *

><p>Kaito pouted unhappily as he dragged his feet into his own house late that evening; the demon child had made him beg for hours. Science-san had left him alone for long periods of time and she'd carried with her one of his gadgets as she left. She would then return after a while to pick up the next so now he needed to disassemble all of the gadgets and make sure that they were still in working order, but for the moment he was so drained that he felt like he could never smile again.<br>"Kai-chan! What's wrong?" Chikage hugged him tightly as he walked into the kitchen. "You've been gone all day, you even missed dinner."

"I need chocolate, mom, _please_, then I'll eat dinner," she released him from her hug and Kaito looked up at her with the cutest pout-expression he could manage; the expression that made puppies look bleak and boring. Old people loved him when he made that expression, and no one could resist it, not even Chikage, who melted and smiled at him; she knew that he only made that expression when he really needed something.  
>"Sure, but you have to tell me where you've been," his mother patted him on his head and went to get him a piece of the dessert she'd made.<p>

"I went to Science-san, the Haibara-girl, to ask where Tantei-kun went," the magician started and told most of the story. Kaito pouted as he finished the dessert; should he take revenge? No one knew about what had happened, and he wasn't sure if he even dared to go there anymore. She had probably already set up traps for him. Science-san wasn't a bitch; she really was the devil's spawn.

* * *

><p><strong>SubChap.1<strong>  
><strong>In Search of a Childhood Friend<strong>  
>fanfiction(.net)s/8075943/2/


	24. Gathering the Pieces

A/N: I'm currently studying 100% and just began working a full time night job, so the updates will take a bit longer. Maybe five days between updates until I've finished the physics course, it ends this month. :)

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness,<p>

Uploaded: 2012-05-05  
>Revised: 2014-09-15<br>Chapter rating: K+  
>Words: 2,700<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Chap. 24<br>Gathering the Pieces**

It was in the beginning of October when he finally was well again; he hadn't had any attacks for over a week and his mother had begun to teach him how to disguise. Shinichi didn't want to draw the reporters to him before the plan had been completed so he couldn't be seen in public until then. Yukiko didn't know about the plan, but she suspected that something was up even though her son denied that there was. The detective had two different disguises, one male and one female, and to his frustration the female disguise was the better one, it'd been easier and quicker to change to and all he had to do was to use the voice-changing facemask, fake breasts and a wig instead of a latex mask, which took much time to apply. He hated the damn masks and couldn't for the world understand how KID could use them the way he did; Shinichi really needed to learn how to use those masks.

He had made the Pandora replicas while the professor and Haibara had been busy helping him make the necessary gadgets. The detective had been training his speed and strength in between his homework and at night, after Haibara had let him loose. She'd held him under strong supervision on their nightly training and he'd been forced to wear a remodelled dog collar that contained both a transmitter and a dose of his special sleeping gas, which she controlled. The scientist had a great time shooting rubber bullets at him with a modified gun, so they didn't have as much force as they usually had, in case they hit him.

Shinichi had almost caught up in schoolwork; he worked quickly and determinedly, no longer caring about the absolute highest mark. The sooner he finished it, the better he could concentrate on trying to win KID's attention before he found someone else. Shinichi grinned as all pieces of the plan fell into place, all he needed now was to get the players onto his board and start the game.

* * *

><p>"The Suzuki office, how can I help you?" a female voice answered in the phone.<br>"Hello, I need to speak with Suzuki Jirokichi, I was told that he would be in today," Shinichi said in a demanding voice.  
>"I'm sorry, he's in a meeting right now. Can I take a message?"<br>"No, I really need to speak to him in person. It involves a special phantom thief, which he has an interest in." There was silence in the phone for a while as the receptionist thought it over. She knew about Jirokichi's obsession with Kaitou KID, everyone did, and he would want to know about it.  
>"I-, I don't think I can disturb him with just that, I don't even know who you are or what you want," she said and the detective chuckled.<br>"I'm a detective. Tell him that a relative of Edogawa Conan wants to speak to him about Kaitou KID, and a gem that I know he will go after even if it killed him." The receptionist was quiet again as she weighed the pros and cons; she could lose her job if it was a prank.  
>"Hold on for a moment," she said and he smiled.<p>

Inside Jirokichi's office the debate over the prize of a diamond was interrupted by the phone and Jirokichi scowled angrily at it.  
>"I told you that I didn't want to be disturbed!" he roared loudly in the phone, making the receptionist hold it away from her ear.<br>"I am truly sorry, Jirokichi-sama, but there's a detective who wants to speak to you about Kaitou KID and a special gem, he's a relative of Edogawa Conan," the receptionist fired off the information as quickly as she could and waited for his reaction. Jirokichi frowned slightly but immediately calmed down.  
>"What's his name?"<p>

"He won't tell me, sir," she replied weakly, "but I thought you might want to know about it." Jirokichi growled lowly as he thought it over.  
>"Patch him through," Jirokichi said, he couldn't help wanting to know who it was, and if it was a prank or a reporter, they wound get the scolding of a lifetime. "This is Suzuki Jirokichi, what do you want?" the man demanded to know.<br>"Good morning, Suzuki-san. My name is Kudou Shinichi, and we really need to meet to discuss a special diamond that Kaitou KID wants even if it cost him his life." Shinichi could hear him hum and waited.  
>"Yes, I've heard about you. When can you be here?"<br>"In one hour, if I leave now," Shinichi said and pocketed one of the replicas.  
>"Good, then we'll meet here." The phone clicked and Shinichi placed the mask over his mouth and nose. He'd known that Jirokichi wouldn't be able to resist.<p>

* * *

><p>Shinichi was arguing with the receptionist since he was in disguise and didn't want to give her his name. Yukiko had giggled when he'd decided to use the female disguise and she'd named both of his disguises. Now he was called Fujimine Mizuki-chan, and since he didn't care too much about the name he'd stuck with it.<br>"I have an appointment with Suzuki Jirokichi now," he said in the muffled female voice and the receptionist looked down at the scheduled meetings.  
>"He doesn't have any meetings until after lunch," she stated and Shinichi sighed in annoyance; he couldn't take of his mask and say that he was Kudou Shinichi; if she told anyone the reporters would be all over him.<p>

"Aika-chan! Is that damn detective here yet?" Jirokichi rounded a corner, looking a bit cranky and suspicious.  
>"No, sir, not yet!" she answered quickly and Shinichi tore of the mask as he walked up to the man.<br>"Suzuki-san, I'm in disguise," he murmured lowly and Jirokichi eyed him in shock. The old man's gaze travelled from his feet to his head, stopping slightly by his fake breast and his eye-makeup. Jirokichi blinked at him before he cleared his throat and Shinichi placed his mask back over his face.  
>"So, Suzuki-san, can we speak in your office and I'll explain everything," Shinichi said in the female voice and bowed, "the name's Fujimine Mizuki."<br>Jirokichi burst out in laughter and nodded, "yes, of course, Mizuki-chan, just follow me." Jirokichi turned to the receptionist. "I just remembered, I told the detective to come here in a week, not today," he said and then escorted Shinichi to his office.

"So, why is Kudou Shinichi, the Great Detective of the East, standing in my office dressed as a woman?" he asked as he sat down behind his desk and gestured for the detective to do the same.  
>"I'm dressed as a woman to hide from the reporters," the detective took off the mask and placed the gem on the table as he sat down. "Are you aware that there are snipers targeting Kaitou KID almost every heist?" Jirokichi stared at him as he took up the fake gem.<br>"No, I wasn't aware," the old man confessed as he examined the jewel.  
>"I want your help to bring them down," Shinichi said as he folded his hands on the table, "I couldn't care less about catching Kaitou KID, but I want to catch the ones who are shooting at him, and I figured that since you want to be the one to catch him." Shinichi smiled smugly. "Well," he said in the same complacent tone as his smile, "can't catch him if he's dead, right?"<p>

"I'm assuming that you have a plan," Jirokichi said and leaned forward with his fingertips pressed together.  
>"In a matter of fact I do, but I want your cooperation before I tell you the entire plan. All I need is for you to have the gem placed in a building of my choosing, restrict the number of people who have access to it and have a news helicopter with a camera connected to a big screen." Jirokichi nodded and grinned.<br>"I want some credit for it, because it's going to land on the front page." Shinichi smiled and nodded, he had expected that. "Then yes, you have my cooperation. I'll be the one to catch Kaitou KID, and I'll be one of them who saves his life," Jirokichi smiled and eyed the green jewel, not knowing that the detective was laughing at him in his head; no one would ever catch Kaitou KID, not as long as Shinichi would be there to defend him.

"This jewel, does it have a name?" the man asked as he stared at it.  
>"Pandora, but you should call it something else, maybe 'The Red Tear of Immortality'," Shinichi stated and Jirokichi raised his eyebrows. "You will keep it hidden, and not speak to anyone about it until Kaitou KID holds a heist, but at the evening of the heist you will put that gem on display. After the heist has ended the impostor that I've hired will drop by a newspaper and leave a heist note. It's a simple code that I've written and the taskforce should have no problem with decoding it, even if it's printed in the morning papers. I'll provide you with a list of people who will attend the heist and know about the plan. Nakamori-keibu won't know anything, neither will the rest of the taskforce. You will tell Nakamori-keibu that you'll only let in fifteen of his men because you already have a foolproof plan, and that you already have hired a private guard. However, if there are other people 'from the taskforce' that wants to enter, you shall let them."<p>

"Why fifteen?" Jirokichi asked interested.  
>"It's so that I can see exactly who is working for the organisation. I suspect that the diamond smugglers will try to infiltrate the building, and so will Kaitou KID, that's why we need a restricted number from Nakamori-keibu's side. The one that I fear can destroy the whole plan is KID; if he disguises as someone and runs around not according to the plan, and if he steals the gem he will most likely be shot. But I'll have the impostor take care of Kaitou KID, so I wouldn't worry too much about him even if he manages to become an annoyance, the impostor is good," Shinichi smiled as he finished; one player was on board, now it was just to convince the other. "Now, why don't we take a look at the blueprints of the Suzuki Corporation's buildings which you'll be able to fully control?"<p>

* * *

><p>A woman with long black hair and deep blue, observant eyes walked into the police station. She walked past the receptions on the main floor and stepped into the elevator. She passed the receptions on the second floor as she walked towards the homicide department's workspace. No one stopped her despite that she was walking into the 'authorised personnel only' without an escort, maybe because she was holding two thick files.<p>

The woman walked into the work space and glanced around. Some police officers frowned when she passed them, but she ignored them as she found her target. The man in a brown coat and hat was filling a cup of coffee and she cleared her throat behind him.  
>"Megure-keibu, we need to speak," she said. The man turned around and gave the woman a glance.<br>"You seem familiar, do I know you?" he asked intrigued.  
>"Is there somewhere private where we can speak?" Shinichi smiled, making the inspector frown, "I'll answer all of your questions there." Megure nodded and showed the disguised detective to his office.<p>

"How can I help you, miss..." the inspector hinted for the woman's name as he closed the door. Shinichi removed the mask and showed the inspector his face; he was wearing a wig, eye-shadow and mascara, but otherwise he looked the same. The inspector stared at him and then frowned.  
>"Kudou-kun? Is that you?" Shinichi grinned and nodded, making the inspector clear his throat. "You sure have changed under these two years," he noted with a small blush.<br>"It's just a disguise to fool the reporters," the Detective of the East shrugged nonchalantly. "I came here to ask for your help," he stated as the inspector sat down behind his desk and Shinichi followed suit.

"When I was undercover I found out that there are snipers targeting Kaitou KID during his heists. These snipers belong to the smugglers; however, the smugglers are governed by an ex-member to the Black Organisation, which the FBI brought down quite recently. The ex-member's organisation is a lot smaller than the original, but the members are responsible for over fifty unsolved murders," Shinichi placed one of the thick files on the desk. "They seem to be better at making murder look like accidents compared to extortions. I've included some names of members that I've found, and the names of the victims, the murderers and how they covered it up," Shinichi finished as Megure glanced through the names of the victims.  
>"Excellent work, Kudou-kun," he said after a while and put the file down. "This should be sufficient to get a warrant and bring them in-"<p>

"Keibu, that's far from everyone. I want to bring down the leader of the organisation and stop them for good," Shinichi interrupted the man and Megure nodded.  
>"Do you have a plan?" he asked and Shinichi nodded.<br>"I have and that's why I'm here; I want the help of the police," the detective picked up another of the Pandora copies that had been made and placed it on the desk. "They want this," Megure picked up the gem and stared at him.  
>"How did you get this?"<br>"I made it, but the question is; will you help me by lending me your officers?" Megure looked sceptical at his words.  
>"So far you haven't led me wrong, what's the plan?" Shinichi smiled as he explained the basics of the plan.<p>

* * *

><p>"Shiratori, Satou, Takagi, Chiba, come with me," Megure said as he entered the break room just before lunch was about to end. The officers stood up and shared a glance; not knowing if they were in trouble. Megure brought them to a conference room without answering their questions and once they entered they saw a woman standing by the end of the table.<br>"Thank you Megure-keibu, and if you'll all take a seat," Shinichi said and then pulled of his mask. The windows were covered by the blinds and as soon as the officers were seated Shinichi started to hand out different parts of the second file to them. "I have chosen you because I trust you," the officers jerked their heads up towards the male voice and grew confused since they could only see a woman.

"I think I can see why KID's disguises mostly consist of females," Shinichi chuckled and then cleared his throat. "My name is Kudou Shinichi, and Conan has left a good word for each and every one of you, and based on what he told me I've handed out the assignments for the person that can handle them the best." The detective glanced around the police officers that seemed to slowly come to terms with the fact that he looked like a woman.

"Shiratori-keibu," the man tensed slightly at the mention of his name, "you will be in charge of coordinating the sweeps for snipers of the surrounding buildings." The man nodded silently. "Megure-keibu, you'll be in charge of coordinating the helicopters, they have to stay hidden and far away until they are needed." Shinichi turned to the woman.

"Satou-keiji, you, Takagi-keiji and Chiba-keiji are also in charge of the security inside the building. Satou-keiji, I will need you in the same room as the jewel," Shinichi pulled up the fake Pandora and slid it over the table so she could see what it looked like, "and Chiba-keiji, I want you to check the special security cameras from the fake news helicopter, which will be provided by Suzuki Jirokichi. The special security will be cameras that I've placed the evening before so they won't be damaged by the organisation members or Kaitou KID. I also need your help with a special tracking program. Takagi-keiji, you will be my assistant and together with Satou-keiji make sure that I don't die. All of this will most likely take place in about one or two weeks from now; Kaitou KID always holds heists close to the full moon." Shinichi smiled as the chess pieces was placed and the opening was about to commence, "and now you might want to know _exactly_ what we're going to do."


	25. In Love and War

A/N:

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

Uploaded: 2012-05-10  
>Revised: 2014-09-15<br>Chapter rating: K+  
>Words: 2,300<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Chap. 25<br>In Love and War**

Shinichi sighed contently as he sipped on his coffee and glanced down to his open math books. The detective was sitting in a café dressed up as the male persona with brown hair, Conan's glasses and a plain face that people would quickly forget. He was still annoyed over the time it took him to put it on and he despised the feeling of it covering his face, but there was no helping it; he just had to get used to the feeling. Shinichi smiled as his target a block away made his classroom explode in different colours as school ended.

The detective was now entirely certain that he knew the identity of Kaitou KID; no one was as wild and free as him. Shinichi had been chasing the thief for enough time so that he immediately recognised his movements from the first time he saw how the other teenager laughing dodged the mop, which was swung at him by a girl looking a lot like Ran. Kuroba Kaito and Nakamori Aoko, childhood friends; they behaved a lot like he and Ran had done once, in what felt like an eternity ago and a completely different life. He found himself wondering from day to day if Ran would ever forgive him or even talk to him after what he'd done; it hadn't exactly been a nice 'break up'.

Shinichi became a bit downcast when he first saw how Kuroba and Nakamori interacted; he'd thought that they were together, until the girl had given the detective Hakuba Saguru a quick kiss, behind the magician's back, before entering the school grounds. He'd been delighted that Kaitou KID was still single; that would give him the opportunity to make the thief _his_. The Detective of the East had decided that if Kaitou KID wasn't, _like him_, he would still look after the crazy thief, for as long as his heart wanted him to. Shinichi had been holding the same place at the café day after day simply because it gave him the best vantage point over the school and the classrooms that the Ekoda High, class 3B used. It had almost been an entire week and he'd already become a regular at the café and the waiters brought him his coffee as soon as he entered at half past seven, half an hour after the café opened, and he immediately opened his books to study.

The magician entered the school some days before Shinichi came to the café to prepare a prank for the class; a magic show that Shinichi loved to watch, but he still understood the annoyance that the magician must cause his classmates with his pranks. Sometimes small ones, like picking locks and teasing the girls and sometimes big pranks, which was always interesting to the detective. Shinichi had seen the magician pretend to fall out of the window from the third floor, almost scaring his classmates to death, only to show up behind them laughing, but Shinichi wasn't sure if it actually had been a prank. The look on the magician's face when he jumped into the window and fell as he avoided the mop had been one of honest surprise. However, his classmates had been certain that it was one and it had been a bit too distasteful if it was one, which made his entire class turn on him.

Kuroba hadn't managed to run away before Nakamori had swatted him hard with a mop, making him stumble before he ran away followed by a horde of angry classmates. The teacher had even sent him to the principal where he'd received a harsh scolding, but the magician also did big harmless pranks, like when the entire classroom had become dark and was only lit up by thousands of small blue lights that soared through the air and the falling of what seemed like sparkling snow. Shinichi would love to see that particular trick closer; it must have been really beautiful from close up since it struck everyone with awe and even the teacher seemed to love it.

The detective was seated behind the booth that Nakamori, Hakuba and Kuroba usually visited so he could eavesdrop on their conversations and orders. Going by their conversations, Shinichi had deduced that Hakuba had figured out that Kuroba Kaito was Kaitou KID, since he sometimes hinted it to the magician. However, Kuroba had somehow managed to get some kind of alibi for a couple of heists, and Hakuba had no hard evidence, which was a relief to Shinichi.

The detective looked up as the bell on the door rang and he smiled as he watched a young man enter; the teenager which he was currently stalking. Shinichi kept an eye on the magician as he kept counting. Kuroba bowed for the waitress with a mischievous grin and conjured a flower in his hand, which he happily handed to her. The bell rang again and Shinichi glanced up; Nakamori and Hakuba had arrived, they were quietly chatting between themselves. Suddenly a pair of twinkling indigo eyes were in between his eyes and the couple, and Shinichi blinked.  
>"Hi!" the magician grinned as he leaned over the back of the padded seats, "you're here a lot, aren't you?" Shinichi smiled amused; he was going to have a conversation with Kaitou KID's real identity.<br>"Hi, yes, I am," Shinichi answered and loved how those eyes, for the moment, looked only at him. "My name's Anami Daichi, what's yours?"

"I'm Kuroba Kaito, it's nice to meet you Daichi-san!" the thief beamed and Shinichi felt his heart begin to beat faster; he didn't even want to look away from those mesmerising eyes. Kuroba Kaito was definitely Kaitou KID. "How come you're always here to study, and not in school or something?" Shinichi picked up a small ounce of suspicion from his eyes; that was bad, the thief was more paranoid than he was.  
>"I like it here," the detective shrugged and saw how the thief's company took their seats, "they have the best coffee." He saw that the suspicion disappeared as it was replaced by a sealed poker face.<p>

"How come you are here Kuro-, Kaito-san?" Shinichi asked smiling and tried to hide his own nervousness from using the thief's first name.  
>"I love their chocolate cake!" the thief grinned widely and Shinichi wanted nothing else but to laugh; he knew how much Kuroba loved chocolate. The next Valentine's Day he would make him a cake with twice as much chocolate as the one they had at the café and leave it anonymously to the thief, although, he might not eat it if he thought it was poisoned.<p>

Shinichi chuckled at the thought of Kaito's confused face when he received a cake anonymously and the thief looked bemused.  
>"What's so funny?" he asked and Shinichi shook his head.<br>"It's nothing that anyone else would understand; it's just funny to me," the detective sighed, still smiling, "you know, it's strange." Shinichi was content that he'd managed to catch the thief's full attention, even though most of the attention was given to him because the thief was cautious. "Even though people might know you, they wouldn't understand the actions you take to protect the ones you love." Shinichi watched how a flood of emotions flashed past the other's eyes and absentmindedly wondered if the thief was aware that his poker face broke, or this time wasn't sealed enough to deceive the sharp eyes of the detective.

Shock, horror, worry, pain, sadness, suspicion, loneliness, understanding and then ultimately Shinichi could see the darker wisdom of the path he'd been forced to take; the same kind of gleam that he'd seen that police officers could get in their eyes once they'd seen much of the criminal world. The thief wasn't as pure and innocent as he once was, or which he wanted to go back to. The magician had seen the terror and pain people put each other through; not to the extent the detective had, but still enough to change him, and Shinichi understood.  
>"It's a strange world we live in, and it's amazing that some people have the ability to make it brighter," Shinichi folded his books and readied himself to leave, knowing that he'd ruined that disguise.<p>

Kaito was listening to the man's voice; he recognised it, and those warm, dark blue eyes were like a burning ray that kept him locked in place. The man before him was familiar in some strange way and he watched in silence as Daichi placed money on the table. The teenager was smiling at him as he walked up to their table.  
>"The world consists of more than just black and white," Daichi said as he snapped his fingers and was holding one black and one white rose, "it's full of <em>interesting<em> gray shapes and shades." The student twirled the stems together as he spoke and then placed the flowers in front of him. Daichi gave him a last sad smile and left. Kaito gaped as he watched Daichi walk towards the restrooms just outside the café; that was one of the strangest encounters he'd ever had with another person, including Snake, and he recognised the particular phrasing from somewhere.

"Who was that?" Aoko said and blinked; equally as confused as both Kaito and Hakuba. "He was a magician, right?" she asked and Kaito shook his head befuddled.  
>"The world consists of more than just black and white. It's full of <em>interesting<em> gray shapes and shades_,"_ Hakuba mumbled with a frown and stared at the magician, who stared back.  
>"Say that again," Kaito demanded when he glanced to Daichi as the student entered the restrooms and Hakuba reluctantly did as he was told. Kaito twirled the roses in his hand and stared at them as he listened to the phrase again. A memory flashed past his mind; he was holding two roses, one white and one black, they were twirled together. A cold breeze told him that the summer had ended and the winter was approaching; it was in the beginning of September. He was standing in his Kaitou KID regalia on a rooftop somewhere in Tokyo.<p>

He could suddenly see Tantei-kun standing in front of him. The child turned to him with wise blue eyes; he looked much older with those eyes, almost ancient, like he'd experienced more of the world than anyone could ever dream of. He had a black rose in his chest pocket and one hand was gripping into the railing.

"_The world consists of more than just black and white, it's full of interesting gray shapes and shades," Kaito had nodded at the child's words.  
>"That's very wise for a child, Tantei-kun." The small child had smiled a bit sadly at his comment.<br>"I'm more different than you think I am, and I am definitely not what you think I am."_

"Ah!" Kaito cried out loudly, making his company jump and flew up from the seat like he'd been shot out of a cannon. Hakuba stared after him as he disappeared into the restrooms after almost crashing into someone who looked a lot like the magician himself. The Kuroba-look-alike had a facemask covering his mouth and nose and he glanced at the restroom door before walking away, a little too fast to not be suspicious in the eyes of the blond detective.  
>"He'll come back," Hakuba sighed as he glanced down to the untouched cake.<br>"I wonder what that was all about," Aoko mumbled worriedly and stared at her friend's empty seat; it wasn't like Kaito to not notice chocolate just in front of his nose.

Shinichi swallowed nervously as he glanced to the door; he had barely made it away from the thief and wasn't ready to answer the many questions that Kaito had quite yet. He had to prepare answers for him, like he'd done when he 'broke up' with Ran, but better this time and more thoroughly. Shinichi frowned as he walked away; what he'd done was stupid and dangerous. Why did he do something that dangerous? What would have happened if KID had remembered exactly from where that phrase was? The detective felt bad as the magician exited the restroom with a thoughtful expression and then glanced around.

* * *

><p>Kaito was pouting as he took his seat and dug into the chocolate cake.<br>"Didn't find him," Hakuba stated and Kaito shook his head.  
>"Who was that? Did you know him?" Aoko asked and the magician shook his head again, just before he swallowed the hot chocolate in one gulp.<br>"Daichi is so mean!" he complained as he slammed the empty cup hard into the table and continued to eat his cake with an impressive speed. "What he told me; 'gray shapes and shades'. That was told to me in private by a friend long ago, and now that friend is gone. He even had the same kind of glasses," Kaito pouted and Hakuba raised a confused eyebrow. The detective wasn't stupid; he understood that Kaito was talking about his Kaitou KID persona, and if that in itself wasn't strange he didn't know what was.  
>"Was that friend a bit younger than you?" he asked avoiding and the thief nodded. Hakuba smiled; he'd found a way to get Kaito to talk about Kaitou KID, assuming that the 'friend' was Edogawa Conan.<p>

* * *

><p>Shinichi sat in the middle of the café and watched how a frustrated Kuroba Kaito entered and asked the waitress about Daichi. The detective was dressed as a woman by the name of Fujimine Mizuki. He drank the horrible herbal tea that they said was good for his 'soar' throat and watched the thief through his lightly tinted sun glasses. He felt bad about upsetting Kaitou KID, but it only confirmed his suspicion and he got to watch the thief one last time before he would have to leave the café permanently. The thief had finally sent out a heist note and after the fake heist the real Kudou Shinichi would come back.<br>'One day, Kaito,' the detective thought and watched how the thief ordered a chocolate cake with ice cream to ease his mood, 'one day we'll speak. You and the real me and I'll show you that you can like me. If not as a partner, then as a friend.'


	26. The Opening Move

A/N: Whew, one of the longest things ever. Hope you'll enjoy! :D

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

Uploaded: 2012-05-15  
>Revised: 2014-09-15<br>Chapter rating: K+  
>Words: 4,800<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Chap. 26<br>The Opening Move**

Kaito sighed as he dropped into his bed with a simple Point Cut diamond in his hand. The heist had been right out boring and it was all Hakuba's fault. The Brit just couldn't keep up with Tantei-kun's speed or wits, and trying to replace the missing child with him had been a futile attempt. The thief pouted as he placed the diamond on his night table and knitted his hands behind his head. He had stopped looking for Tantei-kun a long time ago. The child was after all safe with the FBI and he could definitely take care of himself if Science-san had spoken the truth, and if he had decoded Tantei-kun's farewell note correctly, then the Kudou-guy could tell him where he could find the real Pandora and all he had to do was to wait for the detective to come back. He should come back soon since the Black Organisation was brought down quite a while ago.

Kaito's thoughts wandered back to the heist and he sighed irritated; what irked him was that he was sure that Hakuba was deliberately allowing him to escape just because he'd begun dating Aoko and could therefore never take the child's place as a fun favourite detective. The magician hadn't noticed when the challenge became such a large part of his night life; stealing wasn't quite the same when he didn't get that challenge and that rush of adrenalin, and even the organisation had been absent from the three last heists, maybe he was stealing diamonds that they'd already checked?

Kaito sighed again and pulled the cover over himself; next time he would walk into the building from the entrance and see if the stupid taskforce would be able to give him some excitement. He blinked for a moment, but then grinned.  
>'Am I really <em>that<em> crazy?' he thought and removed the cover from his head, 'or is that just how good I am?' He mentally shook his head; he couldn't compare skill with the taskforce, a child would be able to fool them. Kaito needed a new detective who could give him a challenge, without being able to catch him of course. Could he put that in an ad?

"Internationally wanted thief searching for a fast detective to match wits with during heists."  
>"Bored phantom thief searching for new taskforce to amuse him."<br>"Kaitou KID searching for new favourite detective to play with. Requirement; fast and smart."  
>The magician snickered at the many ideas that popped into his head; one worse than the other and sounding more and more like a personal dating ad in a newspaper while getting longer. Kaito quickly ended up with;<p>

"_Honourable gentleman thief searching for a challenging detective.  
>There's nothing I enjoy more than long walks while supervising a new heist location. Some of my other hobbies include magic, breaking into high security facilities, stealing valuables, and going on runs when you chase me. I am quite the romantic so I love candlelit dinners and films. I do not drink alcohol and I do not care for your looks or gender, but you should have a sense of humour, and try not to be conceited. Since you need to be able to think on your feet to avoid my traps, you should probably also be agile, and it's a plus if you like animals since I keep doves.<br>So are you game?"_

The reporters would love to print that. "Kaitou KID bored, wants new challenge, or partner?"

As the magician slowly drifted to sleep, unaware of the causality he'd set in motion and the preparations being made at the same moment, a man dressed in his regalia had quietly entered into the office of the hardworking boss of a newspaper.

The impostor leaned with his back on the wall as he observed the middle-aged man. The boss hadn't noticed him as he was busy with choosing and organising articles for the morning paper. He pushed a button on his desk-phone.  
>"Kameko! Bring me the article from the heist!" he roared into the phone and a hurried 'yes' came in response.<p>

"I'm sorry that I'm-" she interrupted herself as she entered the office and stared frozen at the sight before her; the white-clad thief, which she thought was Kaitou KID, with crossed arms, tilted his head and smiled at her.  
>"It's okay as long as it doesn't happen again. You're usually never late with an assignment," the boss replied without looking up from his desk and the impostor waived a slow hello to the reporter that was gawking at him.<br>"I-, I-, hello," she stammered and then suddenly seemed to glow as she smiled, "it's an honour to finally meet you!" Kemeko bowed towards the phantom thief and the boss looked up from his work to stare at her frowning. He then spun around and surprise flashed in his eyes.  
>"Kaitou KID," he said in awe and Shinichi smirked KID's infamous smile; impersonating Kaitou KID was more fun in reality than in his dreams, even if he did fear KID's wrath. However, KID would most likely understand after the organisation had been brought down.<p>

"I'm sorry to disturb you so late this fine evening, but I wish to know if you would be able to publish this," a note appeared in his hands as he flicked his wrist, "in the morning paper." The detective walked up to the desk and placed the heist note with the KID-doodle in front of the man.  
>"Have you given this to anyone else?" the boss quickly inquired and the fake thief shook his head.<br>"I personally like this paper, so I thought that I would give it to you, but if you won't publish-"  
>"Oh, no-no-no-noo," the man interrupted him and protected the note with his hands, "we'll publish it, Kaitou KID-san!"<p>

The man was grinning happily as he started to rearrange the articles and Shinichi noted amused that the note went to the front page; not that he'd expected any less, the newspaper with a note always sold more. The female reporter was staring at him with shining eyes and Shinichi thought that it was time to act the part, and not just dress up as Kaitou KID.

"Kameko-chan," he said as he took her hand and kissed it, making her blush deeply. The detective flicked his wrist and handed her a red rose, using one of the few magic tricks he could do. "A beautiful flower for an even more beautiful woman," he said in a warm voice and gave her a seductive smile. Shinichi glanced over the desk as he backed towards the window; he'd seen the boss' name. "If you excuse me, Kameko-chan, Mazawa-san, I have a lot to plan for tomorrow," Shinichi jumped up into the window and pulled down the brim of the hat so that only his smirk was visible. "Have a good night," he said and threw himself out of the window.

Adrenalin rushed through him as he fell through the cold night and he smiled; Shinichi understood why KID used the glider so much, it not only gave him a spectacular entrance but it also gave an amazing feeling to just fall. The chilly wind pulled in his clothing and he grinned as he saw two heads stare out through the window far above him. The detective pushed the button and made his mantle fold into a glider. He turned and headed to the next day's heist building; it was time for preparations.

* * *

><p>Kaito grinned amused as he opened the door to the classroom to see a fuming Aoko in 'I hate Kaitou KID'-ranting mode together with an annoyed Hakuba dressed in his deerstalker hat, covering the horrible, glowing orange and green hair that the magician knew that he had; but he deserved it because he gave up to easily.<br>"Good morning!" he called out and snatched the hat from the detective, making him try to cover the hair with his hands.  
>"BaKaito!" Aoko roared loudly and immediately pulled up her phone, "I have a picture and I won't hesitate to show it!"<br>"You mean a picture of Hakuba's hair?" Kaito laughed amused as she grabbed the mop that was standing by the wall and began to chase him around.

"Aoko," Hakuba sighed and stopped the chase after a while by capturing her in his arms, much to the magician's dismay, "calm down, you're only encouraging him further. He wants you to chase him."  
>"I hate Kaitou KID! I <em>hate<em> him! Just look at what he did to you last night! Why does he even target you so much?" she roared at no one in particular from her place in the detective's arms but made no attempt to get away from him.  
>"Yes, that's a good question," Hakuba muttered and glared at the thief, "Kuroba, why do you think that Kaitou KID is targeting me?" The magician grinned and then shrugged.<br>"Who knows, maybe because he finds you _boring_ during his heists?" Hakuba sighed in annoyance; the magician wanted him to try harder to catch him, but he couldn't do that, Aoko would be crushed if she knew that Kuroba Kaito was Kaitou KID.  
>"You <em>have<em> to catch him at the heist tonight!" she stated and stared up at Hakuba with a determined look.  
>"Wait what?" Kaito squeaked confused at the question, "there's a heist tonight?"<p>

"Yes, you didn't know?" Hakuba smiled amused; the heist note was definitely a fake if Kaitou KID didn't even know about it.  
>"How did you two know that there will be a heist?" the thief asked annoyed while silently cursing the one who used his name to steal.<br>"It was on the front page of one of the newspapers," Hakuba answered calmly as Aoko gritted her teeth and clenched her fists with anger. "But I think it's a fake note," the detective declared confidently as Kaito pulled out the newspaper he'd brought to school with him. The magician had been reading the article about Kaitou KID on his way to school, silently gloating over the praise they gave him and hadn't noticed that another newspaper had had a heist note.  
>"What? How do you know?" Aoko asked curious and Hakuba shrugged, "just a hunch, the note was too simple even though it was for tonight. Kaitou KID makes them harder to crack."<br>"Do you remember the note?" the magician asked curious as he folded the paper and made it disappear. He would buy the newspaper on his way from school and tonight he would catch Imposter-san.  
>"Let's see, it was;<p>

_My dear Suzuki Rival-san,  
>Tonight, at the time the light of the sun reaches us,<br>a White Ghost will come to steal your regretful tear,  
>shed by the Woman of Curiosity after opening her gift,<br>ultimately releasing pain and keeping hope.  
>Since the red light of the green gem captivated me,<br>I will keep it until the immortal dies._

Signed Kaitou KID and his trademark caricature," the detective read from his memory and then noticed that the real Kaitou KID had paled. "I think that the fake one will appear at eight and steal something from Suzuki Jirokichi, he's the only Suzuki I can think of that Kaitou KID would see as a rival, a rival over the front pages," Hakuba continued and watched the magician's behaviour with interest; he seemed worried. "And a curious woman who had a gift which she shouldn't have opened could be Pandora and her box, 'releasing pain and keeping hope' could hint to just that. So it's a diamond called Pandora or something similar," the detective was typing on his phone and then smiled, "yes, Suzuki Jirokichi has made a reply to KID and it's on the internet."

"Are you listening to me KID?" Jirokichi voice yelled through the phone, "I will not let you steal 'The Red Tear of Immortality'!" Kaito stared wide-eyed at the phone.  
>"Why do you think that Kaitou KID is after 'The Tear of Immortality'?" a reporter asked and made Jirokichi continue.<br>"'The Red Tear of Immortality' has a history behind it and that history matches Kaitou KID's note: It is said that the jewel fell from the skies as Pandora cried a tear of blood and regret after she released all the pain and suffering over the planet. Pandora's tear was a tear of life and was said to heal the wounded, bring back the dead or even make one immortal. As the tear fell from the skies it hardened into a gem and changed colour so that it became green, but its true colour could be seen in the moonlight, where it glows red," the man explained and Kaito let out a shaky breath; the organisation would definitely be there after that statement and as soon as they saw Kaitou KID they would open fire.

Kaito would need to get to the gem without showing up in his Kaitou KID outfit, but what if the heist note wasn't a prank and there really was an impostor; he would be shot on the spot. Kaito frowned as he began to feel nervous to the extreme; this heist could be it. Tonight he might get Pandora and destroy it; all of his struggles would be over and he could stop stealing, but was that what he wanted? Kaitou KID had become such a big part of his life, could he really just end it?

He really needed to make sure that his equipment was in perfect order for the evening and he needed to get inside as soon as possible; he needed to leave school_ now_.  
>"Kuroba!" a loud voice called out, startling the magician and making him freeze; he really didn't like the owner of that voice.<br>"Akako?" he said warily as he turned around but was immediately grabbed and pulled out of the classroom. "Akako! I can walk on my own!" he complained loudly as she continued to pull him out of ears reach.

"Listen Kuroba, don't go tonight," she said as she faced him, "I think it's _him_." The witch looked at him like that was supposed to mean something.  
>"What?" he muttered annoyed with a deadpanned stare; not feeling like being polite at the moment and she sighed.<br>"Don't you remember that I told you about the fake boy and the one in their chains?" Kaito frowned as a weak and half repressed memory came to him.  
>"You mean that mumbo-jumbo you spouted at school start?" She nodded annoyed and he sighed. "No, I don't remember, I tend to disregard and ignore things like that," he answered and the witch gave him an angry glare.<p>

"Fine! But this time you should listen. My crystal ball told me that you'll meet your other half," Kaito stared at her in confusion and she sighed annoyed. "The one you'll meet is the other side of the coin that is you, if you're yang, the white side, then he's yin, the dark side. For some reason I couldn't locate him, and I couldn't see who he was. He's also protected, just like the fake boy, and I can't figure out what it is that's protecting him. The only thing I could see is that; he _is_, what you are not. And when I tried to ask my mirror about him, it said that you'll be captured by him. It also said that while KID has been walking in the night and been obscured by daylight, he, the other side, has been obscured by darkness greater than night and missing in the daylight. I think it's the one whom Lucifer spoke of, he who would get to you through the fake boy and take his place. He is powerful, and he hunts with the same aggressiveness as the devil."

"Aggressiveness as the devil," Kaito muttered with a raised eyebrow, "wait a second! You said that the dark one would get to Kaitou KID through the fake boy and the dark one is what Kaitou KID is not." Kaito grinned as his mind came up with the scenario he wanted the most: The opposite of Kaitou KID is a detective, someone who could take Tantei-kun's place, and someone who would capture him meant someone good, but Kaito didn't give much for Akako's predictions since she'd incorrectly predicted that he'd be captured multiple times. The magician smiled; he might not need to advertise for a new detective, even though it would have been tremendously fun to see Nakamori's expression when he read it. Maybe he could make it into a heist note? That would certainly make his fans grow in numbers.

* * *

><p>Shinichi sat on the roof of the elevator with a small laptop in front of himself. He was dressed as Kaitou KID and Takagi, who was dressed as one of Jirokichi's hired guards, was standing in the doors of elevator, hindering anyone from using it. The detective monitored the cameras and shook his head as he watched how Jirokichi and Nakamori started to argue again in the room with the target. Hakuba had arrived after the school had ended and had had a familiar magician in tow. Shinichi had smiled at that; he'd expected Kaitou KID to arrive in disguise, and not as himself.<br>'One hour left,' the detective noted and went through the plans one more time; he had a couple of basic plans and what felt like hundreds of possible routes to get to the goal. "Megure-keibu, report," the detective said in his headset.

"1-62. The helicopters are in order, and the news helicopter took off ten minutes ago and will reach the area in less than five minutes. The rest have been placed on the possible rooftops with a one kilometre radius from the building. They are ready and will on the signal scan all of the buildings far away for long-range snipers."  
>"Good, just remember the light, I don't want any helicopters crashing," Shinichi answered in a steady voice, which only showed confidence and not the nervousness he felt, "Shiratori-keibu, report."<br>"5-42. Everyone's in position, we've covered the closest buildings and everyone will start to search them on the signal, civilian patrol cars are circling the area, set with trackers and are ready to step in when needed."

"Good. Chiba-keiji, report," Shinichi demanded smiling.  
>"2-21. There have been fourteen infiltrators that have divided themselves into five groups of two, and one group of four, they've placed themselves on different floors and seem to be communicating," Shinichi nodded to himself; he'd seen them.<br>"Keep an eye on the two-man teams Chiba-keiji, as soon as this starts, you'll be everyone's eyes and ears. We'll need to know how they move and make sure to mark their radio frequency. Satou-keiji, Kaitou KID is in that room; he can read lips, so I need you to cover your mouth when you report," he said and watched how Satou frowned and glanced around the room. She covered her mouth and Shinichi smiled as Kaito sent her an annoyed glance.  
>"4-38. We're in position," she whispered into the headset, "there are four rats in this room, should I take them down?"<p>

"No, I'll deal with them after it starts," Shinichi answered quickly, "and you all remember what to do, follow your part of the plan _no matter what happens_, do you understand?"  
>"Yes," she answered, and he could hear a bit of worry in her voice.<br>"Good, Takagi-keiji, report," he said and studied the thief on his screen.  
>"3-56. The stairs are in order, the balloons are ready, the flares and fireworks are ready, traps have been set, and I have collected the master remote for Suzuki-san's trap."<p>

"Good," Shinichi mumbled and began to check the different traps connected to his own master remote; everything seemed to be in order and all he needed to do was activate them. "Half an hour left," he said in the headset, "take us up to the correct floor, Takagi-keiji." Shinichi felt how the elevator began to move and opened the hatch. Takagi handed him Jirokichi's remote with a slightly amused smile.  
>"You look just like him," the man commented and Shinichi smiled Kaitou KID's infamous smile.<br>"Of course, Keiji-san," Shinichi stated confidently, "remember your part." The detective closed the hatch, just as the doors opened and Takagi walked away after placing a metal pipe on the floor in between the elevator's doors, making sure that the elevator would stay where it was.  
>'Now Mr. '<em>Anokata<em>', you're in zugzwang,' Shinichi smiled as he entered the air vent system and headed for the target.

* * *

><p>Kaito had glanced around as he walked through the empty corridor decorated with the architecture of the ancient Rome. The thief had managed to lose the detective after one hour after they entered the building, but he didn't expect it to take long for Hakuba to find him. His steps echoed between the paintings of modern art which were displayed on the walls; a strange combination of old and new, not that Kaito would call them art. The paintings depicted pictures of squiggly lines in different colours and squares; that was not art by Kaito's definition.<p>

Getting inside the heist building had been easier than usual since they didn't even pinch anyone's cheeks as long as Nakamori and Jirokichi was busy arguing about the number of people allowed inside. The magician had thought about disguising as an officer but decided that Kaitou KID was currently disguising as 'Kuroba Kaito', so he just walked past them when he entered and then begun to memorise the layout. Kaito had tried to get Hakuba not to attend by trying to convince Aoko to drag him out on a date at the movie theatre, and then hinted that there would be particularly evil traps waiting for the detective at home if he didn't comply. The Brit had glared angrily at the magician and Aoko had bluntly stated that Kaito was an idiot; she would be out there in the crowd and cheer for when either her father or her boyfriend captured KID. Kaito had just smiled, but on the inside been worried; he didn't want Hakuba to get in over his head and get hurt.

The magician had noticed that something strange was going on; Jirokichi had hired a private guard, but that in itself wasn't strange, however, his private guard consisted of the 1st Division officers, and that was strange. 1st Division only dealt with homicides and no one could actually hire them as a private guard unless something else was going on, something big.

Kaito was abruptly cut out of his musings by movement at the end of the corridor. The door to the stairwell slowly opened and the magician quickly hid behind a pillar beside an obnoxious painting of what seemed to be an orange, Kaito couldn't tell for sure. Someone glanced into the corridor and hid behind the door for a moment. The thief brought out a handheld mirror and watched how the officer Takagi showed up and then suspiciously glanced around.

The officer crouched by the wall opposite to the door and seemed to be doing something near the floor. He then walked over and placed something small beside the door. Judging by Takagi's movements he tied a string to the small device and then pulled in it so that the string was creeping along the floor.  
>"3-56. Stairwell, floor 25 set," the officer stated in a headset and Kaito frowned; Jirokichi had hired police officers as a private guard, the police officers were setting up traps, no one had their cheeks pinched. Was it a set up to capture Kaito? No, it couldn't be. If it was a trap to capture Kaitou KID they wouldn't have used the 1st Division; Kaito hadn't killed anyone, at least not that he knew. Someone could have used his name to kill another and maybe the police hadn't notified the public, no, that couldn't have happened; Hakuba would've questioned him on it.<p>

The magician watched how Takagi disappeared as he entered the stairwell and Kaito leaned against the wall. He would need to find out what was going on. The thief waited for a while before he went and examined that the officer had done; it was indeed a trap, and it looked horribly much like one of his father's old gas traps that would explode once the thread was stepped on or pulled in and deploy a thick gas onto the corridor. Kaito had never used that particular trap from his father's arsenal since he liked the smoke bombs better, but that the police was using them was a bit alarming.

* * *

><p>The thief had memorised the layout of five floors and three escape routes when he returned to the display room; if anything happened and he wasn't able to use one of those three routes, he'd just have to improvise, just like he had to do almost every time Tantei-kun was on a heist. Kaito sighed irritated as he walked up to the display case and Hakuba decided to join him, 'why couldn't older detectives be as good as a small child? Did they lose some of their intelligence as they grew up?' The thief studied the diamond with interest, fully aware that Hakuba was staring at him; the gem was the same green colour as the fake Pandora which Kaito hid inside his secret room, but this one was exquisitely cut into the shape of a tear. Kaito frowned; he could sense that something was off about it, but as long as he couldn't examine it he couldn't tell if it was real or not. The diamond was just as well made as the one Tantei-kun had given him, and that Pandora had been insulting to his pride. The children had been able to make such a realistic gem that he'd just barely been able to tell that it had been a fake.<p>

'The Red Tear of Immortality,' he mused, 'the only one who has ever said that exact phrase was Science-san and Tantei-ku-.' Kaito froze as everything fell into place; Tantei-kun knew about the organisation and now there were 1st Division officers on a heist. 'Coincidence? I think _not_,' Kaito grinned and shook his head; it was all Tantei-kun's work and that would explain the presence of 1st Division on the heist. Kaito knew for a fact that the organisation had killed at least one and tried to kill him multiple times, so Snake could have killed more than one, and what was it that Tantei-kun had written? 'I will protect you', 'I will help you bring them down, that is my promise to you'; so they hadn't set up an elaborate trap to capture Kaitou KID, but to capture the organisation, and everyone except Nakamori was in on it. That was why Takagi was setting up traps and that was why Jirokichi had set a limit to the number of people allowed into the building.

Kaito smiled lightly and glanced around; he was curious as to know if Tantei-kun had used someone else's voice or if he was there somewhere, watching everything, like a little baby hawk waiting for its prey. There were many new faces on this particular heist, but only a few that Kaito didn't recognise and most belonged to officers of the taskforce and the 1st Division, Hakuba seemed to have noticed some of them. Nakamori didn't seem to have noticed, as he kept arguing with a very annoyed Jirokichi, complaining about the strange security. Kaito thought he'd figured it out, but he couldn't be completely certain until he'd cornered Imposter-san, and if he didn't like the answer there would be a _very_ sorry impostor.

Satou suddenly tensed as she listened into her headset and then suspiciously glanced around before placing her hand over her mouth; Kaito was sure that that was just to annoy him. He could see that she spoke, but he couldn't hear or see what she said. He studied the faces of the people in the room for a long while until he glanced to Hakuba's pocket watch, which the detective was holding; it was just under five minutes left and he was prepared to save the fool who was impersonating him, _if_ someone was impersonating him and _if_ they needed saving. Takagi entered the room and placed himself by the doors, hindering anyone from leaving.

Hakuba counted down from ten and then reached zero; nothing happened, until multiple loud bangs reached everyone's ears.  
>"Fireworks!" Satou from 1st Division called out as she looked out the window.<br>"2.53 seconds late," Hakuba remarked as he looked at the watch. The opening move had been made and the signal sent. The pawns began to move and the chess was finally starting.


	27. A Dangerous Act

A/N: Complains about a 4,8 worded chapter, writes a 6,1. Makes perfect sense...

I thought about chopping this chapter in two, but it would have become strange(er), there was no really good end-start place in it, so you got a looooong one. This one is approximately twice as long as a normal chapter... Enjoy ;)

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

Uploaded: 2012-05-20  
>Revised: 2014-09-15<br>Chapter rating: T  
>Words: 6,100<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Chap. 27<br>A Dangerous Act**

Kaito watched as one of the guards glanced to his watch; a weak orange light flickered on and the man glanced up towards the air vent above the display case. Smoke erupted everywhere in the room and Kaito had time to see the grid move before his sight was covered in white.

Hakuba was grabbing hard into his arm when the smoke cleared and Kaito lost his poker face. On top of the display case sat none other than; himself? His brain cracked and all he could do was gape. The impostor had the exact same hat, hair, monocle, grin, suit, shirt, tie, gloves, pants, shoes and Kaito stared in fascination. Akako had been right; he was meeting his other self and that other self was a detective, according to Akako, and he was definitely a huge fan if he was able to copy him right down to his own face, it had to be a mask, right?

The trap suddenly activated and a square metal cage formed around the fake Kaitou KID. Kaito then became aware that Hakuba was leering at him and quickly mended his poker face.  
>"KID-sama!" he shouted excitedly as Nakamori grinned at the trapped thief.<br>"I got you now KID!" the inspector stated loudly.  
>"Ah, yes, it would seem like that," Kaitou KID said calmly and Kaito almost died from the shock; it was his own voice too! "I am, <em>although<em>, a bit disappointed. I quite liked the cage formed as a rosebud; maybe you could make more of those?"

"Ha! Like I would! I finally _caught _you!" Nakamori called out in joy to the thief and Kaito grew excited; whoever Imposter-san was, he was good or had one hell of a poker face.  
>"Whatever you do, Nakamori-keibu, don't open the cage, if you do; he'll escape," Hakuba stated loudly, and started to wonder what was going on, since there were a Kaitou KID inside the cage, looking just like the original, and Kuroba was standing beside him looking at KID with happiness.<br>"KID-sama! KID-sama! I want an autograph!" Kaito yelled excitedly; there were no reason for him not to act like a crazy fan when the impostor was there, giving him a perfect alibi in Nakamori's eyes.

Shinichi chuckled amused at Kaito's act; he was too cute.  
>"I am sure that I can manage that, my lovely Magician-san," Kaitou KID answered smiling, making Kaito squeal and clap his hands giggling. The detective listened to Shiratori's voice in the headset; they were moving quickly, faster than Shinichi had anticipated, and a quick glance over the people in the room told him exactly who was working for the organisation.<br>"Why do you steal?" the British detective interrupted the happy rant from the inspector and moved close to the cage.  
>"Good question, Tantei-san, but I'm a magician, and magicians never reveal their secrets. You are the detective; it's your job to figure that out," KID smiled smugly at him, and Hakuba frowned; KID had said something similar yesterday.<p>

Kaitou KID nonchalantly jumped down from the display case and there was a small puff of smoke. When it cleared, KID was holding the gem in his hand, studying it with fascination.  
>"Hakuba, I know you noticed us and are probably wondering," the thief whispered while hiding his mouth with one fist, only allowing the blonde to hear, but then continued louder, "you should know a movie which I find amusing, it's called "Without a Clue", horrible, <em>horrible<em> to the main character, but an interesting concept. Don't you think?" Hakuba frowned at the thief's words; he didn't understand what he was talking about.

Hakuba's eyes widened once he understood and he stared at the thief. It was a Sherlock Holmes movie and Sherlock in that movie had been an impostor while Dr. Watson was the detective who supplied him with the explanations. The detective frowned; that would mean that the fake Kaitou KID was working for someone, the real Kaitou KID? No, then the real Kaitou KID would have known of the heist. The Brit glanced around; 1st Division officers on a heist, fake KID working for someone; the police?  
>"I hate that movie," Hakuba stated loudly as he returned to Kaito's side and Nakamori began to interrogate the amused and confident thief.<p>

Kaito twitched as he felt cold metal close around his wrist. Hakuba had cuffed him again and he scowled at him.  
>"Leave him be, Kuroba. He's most likely working <em>with<em> the police," Hakuba mumbled quietly and watched how the caged KID drove the inspector mad with his teasing answers and laugh.  
>"What are you talking about?" Kaito mumbled annoyed; he already knew <em>that<em>. Hakuba didn't answer and kept quiet as they watched the banter.

Kaitou KID jumped back up on the display case as Nakamori seemed like he wanted to strangle him. "Even though this has been tremendously fun, I am afraid that I need to take my leave now," KID placed the gem in his inner pocket and glanced out through the only window which had him in sight from the other buildings.

His eyes widened, all the sound around him became a dull murmur as the world seemed to slow down and his brain went into a state of hyperactivity. Shinichi was staring into the barrel of a sniper rifle. 'Bullets; Armour piercing. 5-round magazine. Muzzle velocity; 770m/s,' his brain stated and he saw how the weapon stabilized. 'War veteran,' the detective watched how the finger on the trigger moved and he jolted his head to the side. The window shattered and Shinichi felt how a small, burning pain emerged as the bullet traced his jaw line. His eyes never left the sniper and he saw how the barrel moved slightly, taking a new aim and firing. Shinichi that had calculated ahead grabbed into the brim of the hat as he fell to his knees. The bullet left a burning sensation on top of his head as it tore through his hat, which was only kept in place by his grip. As soon as the bullet had passed Shinichi placed his hands on the display case, while the sniper took a new aim. The man fired while Shinichi pushed himself up with all of his strength and jumped headlong into the air as the bullet passed. He grabbed into the edge of the glass case as he fell downwards and pulled himself towards the floor, but before he was out of sight another bullet nicked his arm.

Shinichi got up from the floor and coughed into his fist as everyone stared at him gawking; everything had gone fast and the detective ignored them as he quickly glanced out through the window. The sniper placed a bag over his shoulder as he ran for the door. He would get caught by Shiratori's men; there were no escapes from that building. Shinichi pressed down one hidden button in the end of his sleeve, indicating that they were switching plan and then cleared his throat as he fixed his tie and everyone seemed to recover from the shock.  
>'Note to self; remember to thank Haibara for the training,' the detective thought as Nakamori ran for the broken window.<p>

"_Who the hell was shooting?"_ the inspector yelled and quickly glanced out through it, unable to see the room which the sniper had been inside since he didn't have night vision or telescopic lenses on a monocle. Shinichi caught a sight of Kaito's impressed face as he watched how one of the organisation members placed a finger over his ear as he received orders. The detective pulled out one of Haibara's special tranquilizer guns and quickly fired at the four members that were inside the room.

Nakamori saw how they fell to the ground and stared wide-eyed at the thief's almost silent gun.  
>"K-KID?" he asked unbelieving.<br>"Don't worry, Keibu-san, they're only asleep," Kaitou KID said while he stuck a finger inside the hole of the hat. "How rude," he muttered and examined the wound on the arm; it was barely a scratch.

Kaito stared at the gun; it was the same kind of gun that Science-san had used on him, and Imposter-san must've gotten it from her.  
>"Is it not a lovely toy?" the white-clad thief asked and showed off the gun, "not as harmful as the real ones." As to emphasize his statement he wiped away the blood that was running from the wound on his jaw and Kaito watched how he snapped his fingers; making the cage suddenly cut in half and release him. "Keibu-san," he said with a teasing voice and a grin, "I have to go now, <em>with<em> my prize." Nakamori became red with anger.  
>"<em>Get him!" <em>he roared and the taskforce lunged towards the completely calm thief. KID let two fingers trace the brim of the hat and Kaito saw that everyone from Jirokichi's private guard pulled out gas masks, so he did the same. Pink smoke covered the room and he heard the sound of bodies falling to the ground.

The smoke cleared slowly and Kaito removed the gas mask just as a grinning KID ran past them. Most of the taskforce were sleeping in a pile, but Hakuba was awake; he'd just held his breath as he'd also been observing the 'special guard'. Two if the 1st Division officers stayed behind while the rest chased after the fake thief. Kaito saw how they started to cuff the four men, whom Imposter-san had shot and he escaped from the Brit as he was distracted by them.

* * *

><p>Shinichi ran for the stairwell knowing that the real thief couldn't be far behind them. The detective stopped and nodded as the police officers split into two groups; Satou, still looking shocked but determined, and four others jumped over the thread to the trap and entered the stairwell, while Takagi and his group stepped into the elevator and kicked away the small metal pipe that kept the doors open.<br>"Chiba-keiji, report," Shinichi demanded as he watched the elevator doors close.  
>"2-21. There are two men two floors above you, four men two floors above them, and then four men on the next floor," Chiba informed him as he studied how the transmitters on the officers moved and compared the blueprints on the computer to where the assassins were.<br>"Good, change the frequency so that you can communicate with the In-teams and remember to tell me if their plan changes," the detective requested as he could hear one single pair of running steps and then watched how the real Kaitou KID rounded a corner. Shinichi smirked and took a step back, activating the smoke trap.

"Shiratori-keibu, Out-teams," the detective said as he ran through the thick smoke while silently counting his steps.  
>"5-42. All teams are advancing, the 14th floors are being searched and five men, all from different buildings have been caught," Shiratori quickly informed while Shinichi jumped over a trap inside the smoke.<br>"Megure-keibu, report."  
>"1-62. One third of all the buildings inside my designated area have been searched. Four men have been found and sedated, the snipers wants to know who made de design for the weapons," the inspector stated, making Shinichi silently laugh; if they only knew that 'a little girl' had made the plan to remodel the weapons for them.<br>"Good, good. Takagi-keiji, report," he said instead and exited the smoke filled corridor and heard the trap activate, apparently KID did not avoid it.  
>"3-56. Speaking with two members of the taskforce."<p>

The detective was just about to round a corner when a card imbedded into the wall in front of him and released a pink smoke. Shinichi threw a quick glance towards the thief and managed to capture a glimpse of him before he disappeared out of sight and Shinichi was impressed; KID had managed to avoid the black dye from the trap even though he activated it. The detective ran faster and listened to Shiratori's voice as he said the number of the floors that had been searched. Shinichi threw an eye over his shoulder; KID was further behind than he'd been previously and the detective ran until he reached a room, especially remade by his command and the fake thief entered it quickly.

The room had one single bulletproof window, which wasn't able to open anymore, no air vents that wasn't welded shut, and fixed so that if KID still got them open he wouldn't be able to enter them since they had been narrowed on the inside, while the door only worked one way. Shinichi ran up to the window and pretended to be opening it as KID entered the room.  
>"Hello there, Imposter-san," Kaitou KID exclaimed with a smile. "I must say that it was an extremely impressive performance back there," he continued amused and pushed the door closed, "avoiding pullets <em>and<em> driving Nakamori-keibu insane, impressive, but now you're caught." When Shinichi heard the door close he smiled and immediately stopped his act.  
>"Coming from you, that truly means the most to me, but things aren't always the way you think, KID-san," Shinichi said smiling and shoved his hands in his pockets while watching the thief's reflection in the dark window. "It <em>is<em> in fact, I," he stated and turned around with the air of a showman, "who has captured _you_."

Kaito mentally frowned, but didn't show anything through his poker face, and Imposter-san was just smiling at him with the thief's own infamous smile.  
>"Not yet, I'm not in shackles," the impostor smirked at his rebellious statement and Kaito narrowed his eyes.<br>"This room has been sealed as per my request so that you won't be able to disturb our operation. You see, we've had more time than you to prepare for this, since I was the one who sent out the heist note." Kaito glanced around the room, the two air vents seemed to have been sealed and the thief placed his hand on the door handle. The door did not open as he pressed it down and Kaito smirked as he hid his worry; at least that gave him time to convince Imposter-san to speak.  
>'You will be captured by him,' the memory of Akako's voice stated and Kaito wanted to growl in annoyance; for once the witch had been right, he was for the moment caught, but Kaitou KID never stayed caught for long.<p>

"You are a thief, and as such, the only thing you can do is to compete with them, in a never-ending struggle. You need someone like me to defeat them," Shinichi stated confidently, "a detective." The thief hummed as he studied Imposter-san; Kaito couldn't tell anything from the detective, since he was dressed as himself. The other's face only held the smug smile while his voice was calm and full of warmth.  
>"You'll need to get out of here sooner or later," Kaito said and tilted his head in interest; there was something familiar about the person in front of him, like he'd seen him before.<br>"Actually, I don't," the detective smirked, "the police could handle everything on their own, but I'd be sad to miss the action."

"Oh~, well we can't have that now, can we?" Kaito cooed gently and started to slowly walk towards the detective, who immediately responded with the same kind of movement, "so why don't you open the door, you must have a way out."

"Yes, I do," Imposter-san answered calmly as they slowly circled each other and Kaito shivered unnoticeably; all of his thief senses tingled and told him _'Danger! Danger! Danger!'_ Kaito hated detectives that were _too_ calm; he'd rather have them running in circles or yelling obscenities, otherwise it was like they knew what he was about to do, and now he was faced with one of the calmest detectives he'd ever encountered. There was a long silence as Imposter-san was studying him, no, studying was the wrong word, disassembling him would be more correct, since the detective's gaze felt like it was burning straight through his poker face, picking up parts of Kaito that he thought were interesting and examined them.

Kaito felt how the air got heavier and the impostor's smile widened. Their pace slowed and their circle widened. Kaito was prepared to draw his gun and by the look of Imposter-san, he was too.  
>"Who are you?" the thief whispered and unnoticeably moved his hand towards the card gun. "What are you, Tantei-Kaitou, and the police planning?" the impostor smirked at his name and Kaito narrowed his eyes, "just trying to capture me? Or something more?" The thief needed to know if his deduction was right. Kaito's saw how the detective drew a card gun, looking just like his own, and reacted on reflex.<p>

KID was faster than Shinichi and immediately fired, forcing the detective to spin around as he avoided three cards and focused on protective his mantle; if the glider was damaged he'd be out of the game and be obliged to leave the rest to the police. Shinichi swore quietly as he threw himself out of the way when three more cards almost nicked his clothing; he wasn't as fast as when he was Conan and he would need to train up his speed in order to be a match with KID. The detective rolled on the floor and took aim with his own fully operational replica before he was even on his feet. KID fired again; two cards this time, and Shinichi responded with the same amount. The detective grinned as the cards imbedded into each other and fell to the floor, and he fired again. The thief easily avoided his cards with the gracefulness that came from years of training. Shinichi quickly got up from the floor and kept firing while listening for Shiratori's voice.

Smoke erupted everywhere in the room and Shinichi moved quietly to the middle of it knowing that most people would back towards the wall. The detective crouched down and listened for the thief; not a single noise was heard except the thumping of his own heart. Shinichi strained his ears and silently turned his head; the thief didn't make any kind of noise, 'how can he be so quiet?'

The smoke slowly dissipated closest to the floor and Shinichi looked around; KID was standing by the door, guarding it. Shinichi slowly stood up, careful not to make any sound while he placed the card gun in his inner pocket and carefully shoved his hands in his pockets. His face felt stiff, like a mask, since he forced it into that constant smirk, while his shoulders were forced down into a relaxed pose. He looked calm and collected, while he was everything but that.

The smoke cleared and neither of them moved. KID was leaning on the door, looking relaxed and studying him closely with a firm gaze and half lidded eyes while Shinichi watched him out of the corner of his eyes. The thief hummed almost absentmindedly.  
>"So, what now?" he smirked, "a game of tag?" Shinichi moved slightly and met the thief's gaze.<br>'Now we wait until the plan changes or Shiratori-keibu reports.'

"I honestly thought that you'd try to get out when I dropped the smoke bombs," Kaito said when it became clear that Imposter-san wouldn't answer.  
>"I can't get out of this room without the help of others," the detective slowly explained, "and a code word to make them open the door." There was a silence for a while, a heavy silence that made Kaito become even more alert and caused his skin to tickle.<p>

"Work with us," Imposter-san suddenly broke the silence and Kaito almost twitched; the damn detective made him nervous; he was too calm.  
>"With the police?" Kaito hummed and pretended to be thoughtful; he wanted nothing more than to be part of the takedown.<br>"Work with us to bring them down, or stay here with me," Imposter-san elaborated and the calm mask was dropped as he smiled gently.  
>"Maybe, what's the plan?"<p>

"I'll tell you later, since we're running short of time," Shinichi lied, "and the police will continue with another plan if we, or I, don't join them, but for now we need to get to the roof and you just stay out of my way. I'll jump off the roof first to lead the way and you can follow a couple of minutes after. When we land and get into the car, that's when I'll tell you everything, deal?"

The gentleman thief shrugged; it could be a trap and the detective might want to get two birds with one stone.  
>"Deal," Kaito said and went with the more risky option.<br>"And as a gentleman you won't gas me and run away," the detective stated and Kaito nodded in agreement; there was no way that he would destroy his chance to get Snake, even if he was working with a detective. The thief mentally frowned and narrowed his eyes in suspicion; detectives usually _never_ worked _with _thieves, they weren't that open minded.  
>"Code 48-69, KID's in," the detective said out loud and Kaito jumped to the side as the door was opened. One of the officers that had stayed behind and cuffed the four men smiled at them.<br>"As per request, IC," the man bowed towards them and left.

"Are you coming, KID-san?" Shinichi said as he passed the thief, who just hummed as a response but still followed him. "Takagi-keiji, report."  
>"3-56. We're on the last, speaking with four members of the taskforce," Takagi stated; that meant that his and Satou's groups were taking care of the last four members of the organisation, "no sighting of Kaitou KID, yet." Shinichi pushed the button to the elevator as Takagi added the rehearsed statement, making the members think that he was giving a report about the thief.<p>

Shinichi grinned as he felt the thief's eyes on him when the doors closed and the calming elevator-music began; it was ridiculous music, not written for moments when adrenalin pumped through your body because you were chasing snipers aiming to kill you.  
>"3-56. Last group eliminated," Takagi's voice stated as they were halfway and Shinichi relaxed a bit; they were safe for now.<p>

* * *

><p>"Next part, go-go-go," Shinichi said impatiently to both of the In-teams as soon as he exited the elevator on their floor and found them just outside the elevator, crouching beside the unconscious members. Satou gaped as her gaze travelled from one thief to the other; she could honestly not tell the difference between them, other than that one was ordering her around, had wounds and a hole in his hat while the second was silent. Shinichi grabbed a radio from one of the sleeping men and cleared his throat.<br>"Snake!" he roared angrily into the radio, making Takagi twitch nervously as the detective passed him on his way to the stairs, "I'll be coming for you!" Satou stared at the detective; he looked completely calm and collected even though his voice was filled with rage, it was unnerving and made her shiver.

She'd met the detective a long time ago, before he went undercover and she remembered him as an extremely confident young man with no patience that thought he could do anything he pleased and rarely listened to advice from others, he'd been irritating at best. He had changed and become more paranoid and extremely observant. He was still exceedingly cunning, but he'd become cleverer and gentler. He'd started to listen to advice even if he dismissed them, and he seemed to have developed a never ending pool of patience. The detective was, nowadays, understanding and calm, _never_ angry or irritated.  
>"Sure you are Kaitou KID," a cold voice answered chuckling, "I assume that you and your assistant are the ones responsible for preventing me from contacting the others." Shinichi chuckled coldly into the radio while he opened the door to the stairwell.<br>"Maybe you shouldn't hire people who fall asleep on the job," he said in a teasing voice as he began to run up the stairs, followed by the quiet thief, since the officers needed the elevators to get down quickly.

* * *

><p>Shiratori-keibu, how's the southern buildings?" the detective asked as the roof began to close in on him. Kaitou KID had to struggle to stay close to him given that Shinichi, who had played football for his entire life, was a lot faster than the thief, but wasn't as quick and limber when it came to the crazy acrobatics and such activities that the thief often indulged in.<br>"5-42. They have almost been completely searched," Shiratori answered and the detective glanced down in between the floors; Kaitou KID was four floors down.  
>"Chiba-keiji, keep your helicopter away from the roof and come for me on the signal."<p>

"Yes, IC," Chiba said as the pilot flew the helicopter in a circle around the building. Shinichi bolted through the door to the roof and then threw himself down, just as a bullet whizzed past his head.  
>"Shiratori-keibu, sniper to my east," he commented as he adjusted the inbuilt night-vision and telescopic lens on his monocle. The detective lay there, waiting, and caught his breath just as running steps were heard. 'Come on, Shiratori, quicker,' Shinichi mumbled in his head; he didn't want KID to be shot.<br>"Team 15 got him, east, west and south roofs searched, almost finished with the northern buildings," the inspector's voice stated in his headset and Shinichi flew up from the ground and pressed himself against the wall beside the door as he scanned the rooftops and rooms for snipers, in case one had been missed. The door flung open and almost struck him in the face but the detective immediately grabbed into the arm and pulled KID to safety; not all buildings had been cleared.

Shinichi had pulled hard, and that had made the real thief crash into him. The detective had time to register shock in KID's eyes before he realised what position they were in. He could feel KID's body pressed up against him; from the thief's leg that had accidently ended up in between his legs to the thief's stomach which was pushed against his own. KID had one hand on the wall beside his head from when he braced himself and their eyes were locked only centimetres from each other. He could feel KID's chest expand as he panted, his cheeks were flushed from the run and his hot breath tickled his chin, making burning shivers run through his body. Shinichi could actually kiss him, but then the moment that had felt like an eternity was over and KID placed himself with his back against the wall beside his impostor.  
>"Okay, we're here," Kaitou KID stated as he glanced around the rooftops, not noticing that Shinichi was fighting a blush.<p>

"Snipers from all of the buildings removed," Shiratori informed him and he sighed.  
>"Now if you excuse me," the detective smiled as he left the wall and walked out on the roof, "I have a murderer to annoy." Shinichi scanned the rooftops around him; no snipers. "Oh, Snake~," Shinichi sang teasingly into the radio while KID stared at him, "I've got something you want, but you can't have it~."<p>

"Damn it KID!" Snake roared and then continued to swear loudly. Shinichi saw how KID frowned as he tapped a short code into the headset; making the news helicopter come towards him. "Do you want to see the red glow of Pandora?" he asked Snake with a hum as the light from the helicopter's spotlight shone on him. The fans roared far below him when the camera on the helicopter displayed him on a large screen.

"Who are you?" the real thief called out to him over the loud noise from the helicopter.  
>"Just a nobody," Shinichi answered with a grin while his face was covered with the dark shadows from the hat's brim.<br>"Yea, right," he heard KID mumble annoyed, "do you even know who you're dealing with?"  
>"I know everything," Shinichi said as he pulled up the green gem and held it in his hand. He pulled out his card gun replica and fired at the light from the helicopter, and as soon as it flickered off he held the gem to the moon. He heard the 'ohh's from the audience as he was drenched in the blood red light; it fell beautifully around him and made the roof sparkle with lights.<p>

The taskforce came storming up on the roof, almost crushing KID with the door; they were covered in different powders, slimes and glitter, all in bright colours. They were the living proof of the professor's and Haibara's ingenuity and mischievousness.  
>"KID!" Nakamori roared angrily and pointed to Shinichi, "get him!" The detective avoided their tries to catch him smiling; it was easier to avoid the taskforce than a trained football player on the field, and he'd seen KID avoid them so many times that he already knew how they moved. KID closed the door annoyed as the helicopter fly away from the roof to get a replaced spotlight, and he sighed as he watched Imposter-san annoy the officers.<p>

"What do you think of all this?" Hakuba said as he leaned on the wall on the other side of the door and the thief sent him a glance.  
>"I don't know, it's just weird. He's so weird," KID answered calmly.<br>"They will notice that Kuroba Kaito disappeared," the detective stated and Kaito huffed.  
>"I disguised as him, yes," the thief suppressed the wish to pout; it would have been a superb alibi as long as Nakamori stayed oblivious.<br>"I'm going to say that Kuroba went home when KID ran out through the door," Hakuba whispered with a small smile and Kaito raised his eyebrows.  
>"Why?" he asked as he saw how the taskforce received a dose of pink sleeping gas, a few shades darker than the real thief's.<br>"Not now," the detective mumbled, "I'll tell you later."

"Chiba-keiji, report, have you tracked him yet?" the impostor called out in the air and Hakuba smirked; the fake thief was working with the police. "Got it," he said and turned to the only other two that was awake. "We have to go soon," he said grinning and Kaito raised an eyebrow.  
>"Go where? We're covering your exit?" Hakuba asked loudly but the impostor didn't answer.<br>"Snaky Snaky~, are you still there~?" he asked chuckling and backed towards the edge of the building. "I'll be coming for you," he whispered threatening into the radio.

KID and Hakuba watched how the impostor argued with the man over the radio until he became illuminated by the returning helicopter.  
>"Ladies and Gentlemen!" he said, while ignoring the angry voice in the radio. Imposter-san's voice echoed between the buildings; amplified by speakers. KID watched how he took up a remote and held it behind his back. "I'm afraid that tonight's show is coming to an end!" he held out his hand and snapped his fingers as he pushed a button on his control. There were loud explosions high in the air and Kaito saw a black helicopter against the background of fireworks.<br>"He knows what he's doing," Kaito mumbled and the Brit threw him a glance.

The impostor spun around and pulled out a strange gun-like gadget, which he fired towards the black helicopter. "And now, Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm asking you to cooperate with me so you won't get hurt," Imposter-san said and tapped twice on the hat's brim. Kaito frowned as the impostor bowed towards them and then began to back towards the edge. "KID-san, as you know, there are more ways to hide than in just darkness," Imposter-san said smiling and reached the edge of the roof.  
>"Ladies and Gentlemen! Please, look down into the ground and close your eyes. Otherwise you'll be blinded for half an hour!"<p>

Kaito saw how the impostor pushed a button and an air vent beside him opened to reveal something that looked like a cannon. "Pilots, prepare yourselves," the impostor said and then exchanged the monocle for a pair of glasses. The cannon exploded in a small burst of light and a ball flew towards the sky. There were multiple bursts of light all around the rooftops and KID quickly pulled on his flash glasses; knowing that they most likely were strong flash bombs and he was correct. The world exploded in light and Hakuba groaned as he allowed himself to fall to the ground while covering his eyes with his hands. The impostor grinned at Kaito; the white suit and mantle reflected the light and made him radiate. "So what do you think of our escape KID-san?" Imposter-san asked grinning and fell backwards over the edge.

Kaito ran towards the edge and saw him fly away on a glider with a slightly different design compared to his own and he frowned. The 'flash bombs' the impostor had used were still shining brightly in the sky; slowly drifting downwards in their parachutes, causing blindness to everyone. The black helicopter hung in the air like a beacon and wasn't able to do anything. Kaito jumped off the building after a minute had passed and chased after his impostor; whoever he was, he had invited him to partake in the takedown and Kaito wanted nothing more.

He flew and then suddenly all light disappeared and he pulled off his glasses. His eyes were hurting and he had to blink repeatedly in order to regain his sight. Kaito pulled out his night-vision binoculars and frowned; whatever the impostor had done to the glider had made it faster and the thief watched how he landed on a low rooftop far away from him. Dark figures detached from the shadows and moved for Imposter-san; they seemed to be talking, judging by their gestures.

Shinichi landed on the roof and according to the frequencies of the radios there should be at least three people there.  
>"Hey, Snaky Snaky~," Shinichi sang and felt his pulse race under his skin; this was the dangerous part. "Come out, come out, wherever you are~," he grinned and watched how the angry assassin excited the shadows.<br>"Where is the Pandora?" he growled lowly and Shinichi snickered.  
>"Gone," he teased and heard how other people moved behind him. Snake only stared at him with an angry scowl on his face. "Now, tell me where I can find your boss," Shinichi smirked and felt his heart beat hard and his body tremble with adrenalin. He wanted to run away and he wanted to beat them up for even thinking about harming his thief.<br>"Give me Pandora," Snake came closer and Shinichi smiled the KID-grin.  
>"What if I don't want to? I've hidden it, and you'll never be able to find it," he retorted and then saw how Snake smirked like a hungry wolf; it was the same kind of grin that Gin had had when he strangled him and it made him uneasy.<p>

Kaito watched in horror how two people grabbed into the impostor's arms from behind; he struggled hard, but was struck in the head by the third, which he had to assume was Snake. It looked like the hit stung the man for a moment and Snake pulled out his gun. He was pushing it against the fake KID's head and saying something. The man shook his head and Snake struck him with the back of the gun. Imposter-san spat to the ground and seemed to retort with something that Snake didn't want to hear. Kaito saw how the assassin placed the gun against the impostor's shoulder and a shot rang through the air. The man screamed in pain and was dropped to the ground by the other two. He was grabbing for his shoulder and Snake seemed content as the fake KID slowly reached for his inner pocket.

The impostor held into the gem and slowly stood up. He made a move to throw it off the roof as a second shot rang through the air and Kaito saw how the man stumbled, until he collapsed on his back. Kaito felt himself go cold; had Snake killed him? The person working with the police who was supposed to be a detective and take Tantei-kun's place? There was a bit of a struggle on the rooftop as the dying impostor seemed unwilling to let go of the gem, until Snake stepped on his wound. He screamed and then seemed to stop moving. His arm fell back to the roof and Snake bent down to check his pulse. The murderer laughed and then gestured for the two others to follow him as they left with the gem.

* * *

><p><strong>SubChap. 2<strong>**  
><strong>Piece of Cake<br>****fanfiction(.net)/s/8075943/3/


	28. Before the End

A/N: All my love to MelChama for helping me with the chapter. It's much better now than before!

Thank you for all of your great reviews! I'm so happy you liked the last chapter!

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

Uploaded: 2012-05-24  
>Revised: 2014-09-15<br>Chapter rating: T  
>Words: 3,300<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Chap. 28<br>Before the End**

Kaito landed on the roof and quickly ran to the impostor's side. The white fabric was coloured red and he could smell the sweet, metallic scent from the blood. The bullet wound in his shoulder and the one in his chest, right over his heart, were still bleeding so the magician put a hand at the man's throat, hoping for a pulse, but felt none. He quickly retracted his arm as if he'd been burned while his mouth became dry. Dead; Snake had killed again, right under his nose, and he hadn't been able to do anything to stop it. Kaito didn't even want to look at the body; it resembled himself too much and made him only envision his own downfall. He was torn between two choices; either find the man's family or go after Pandora, but just as he made his choice and was about to go after Snake he felt something grab into onto his wrist and he jerked his head down.

Kaito let out an undignified squeak of fear before he could control himself and the man laughed. Piercing blue eyes full of life and amusement looked up at him; the dead man was holding into his wrist, smiling and Kaito frowned as he checked Imposter-san's pulse again; he still didn't have one.

"How?" Kaito gasped as the man slowly rose to a seated position.  
>"A magician never reveals his trick," he said with a grimace and tore off what seemed like to be a part of his throat; the thick fake-skin had blocked his pulse.<br>"You planned to be shot?" Kaito asked in annoyance.  
>"Yes, and I think it's time to involve you in the plan before we move on," the man said smiling and Kaito narrowed his eyes at the bloodied man.<br>"You should have told me earlier what you were going to do! I almost had a heart attack!" the thief complained loudly and pouted, completely forgetting his poker face.  
>"And miss your reaction? Never!" the annoying detective grinned amused and Kaito sent him a glare.<br>"I think I want to hit you, or at least slap some sense into your thick head," the thief bit back.  
>"Oh? But what would happen to your 'no one gets hurt'-policy?"<p>

The thief glared at the man, who seated himself on his knees and to Kaito's confusion gently grabbed onto into his hand.  
>"I am truly sorry for upsetting you, my fair lady," he purred with an enticing voice while the hat obscured his face and he kissed Kaito's gloved hand, earning him an amused snort from the magician. He knew that Imposter-san was teasing him; a detective was teasing Kaitou KID… where was the world going?<br>The thief sighed and shook his head, still very much irritated, but when seductive blue eyes met his it caused him to shiver; it was like the magician was staring into the eyes of a slightly ruffed up Kaito. Would it be self-love or vanity if he said that Imposter-san looked absolutely stunning? Especially with the small wound on his jaw.

The thief giggled femininely and spoke in a woman's voice.  
>"Ooh, what a cute little boy we have here," much to Kaito's glee the impostor actually flushed a shade of light pink at his words; clearly Kaito hadn't reacted the way Imposter-san had thought he would've and the thief mentally gave himself a pat on his back as the man released his hand, "but I still think that I have to repeat myself… Quite the performance, Imposter-san, even if it was a disturbing one." He grinned slightly; it was strange how easily he forgave the man for the distasteful stunt he pulled, but the man had, after all, given him a chance to capture Snake.<br>"Thank you, and yes, it was disturbing," the detective agreed before he pressed one of the communication-buttons hidden at the end of his sleeves.

"Takagi-keiji, report," Shinichi said and fought his blush as he carefully got up from the roof. His shoulder hurt, but it was nothing compared to the memories of returning to his own body after he consumed the cure, and he was happy that Snake hadn't decided to go against his trademark and shoot him in his head instead of his heart.

"3-56. We have the gem on the screen. We're waiting for you on the street," Takagi stated and Shinichi smiled.  
>"Megure-keibu, have you found the helicopter that I marked?"<br>"1-62. Yes," Megure answered, "we're in pursuit, and holding our distance."  
>"Good. Shiratori-keibu, how are the ground troops?" Shinichi smiled at KID; knowing that he was driving the thief crazy with curiosity.<br>"5-42. Two thirds available in cars and helicopters, and the last third is taking care of the captives," Shiratori quickly informed.  
>"Good, Satou-keiji, have they passed your position?"<br>"4-38. Yes, only a minute ago. They just drove off." The detective walked up to the door and turned to the thief.

"KID-san, are you coming?" The thief nodded and Shinichi's heart fluttered as he came walking. The detective mentally slapped himself for being so stupidly in love.

* * *

><p>"Satou-keiji, we're almost out. Get the car to the front of the building," Shinichi commanded as they reached the end of the stairs.<br>"In position," Takagi answered after a minute and two white-clad thieves, one covered in blood, ran through the building, earning shocked looks as they passed people and jumped into the car.

"So, what's the plan and what do you know about them?" KID asked as the car took off in a haste. "The gem has a tracker inside it and we're going to follow Snake to White Horse, and he will then take the gem to the boss called 'Anokata', or by his Black Organisation member name; Whisky. Takagi-keiji, please give me the laptop," Shinichi requested and continued as the officer did as he was told.

"Whisky worked under two scientists but then faked his death when Pandora went missing. He started to search for it even though he didn't know what it looked like. White Horse and Rose, who were loyal to him, followed him and faked their deaths with his help. They weren't very high ranked members, but they were good enough to sneak away," the detective explained as he studied the map over Tokyo, "and I'm guessing that Whisky began using animal names instead of alcoholic ones in order to draw attention away from his connection to the Black Organisation; failing in doing so, if I might add. They mainly deal with smuggling artefacts and diamonds, since that's what White Horse is good at."

"Whisky is the brain of the organisation while White Horse, Wolf, Lynx and Jaguar deal with founding. Fangtooth is currently residing in jail for extortion and his friend Shark is there for fraud. Rose is there for attempted murder while Lion and Hawk have been caught for manslaughter. The organisation consists of 15 people, excluding Whisky; Snake, Viper and Spider are currently the ones in charge of protection. The not-so-friendly magician, Spider, is currently in Germany and is being picked up by some friends of mine. Bat deals with reconnaissance while Monkey is included in both categories. They kill people from time to time but they haven't quite mastered the 'removal of evidence' -part yet. However, they pay or threaten others to take the blame if they don't succeed in making it look like an accident. Fox is the one who makes up ways to fake accidents, and then the members are varyingly good at following her plans. They also pay people to do their dirty work, but they prefer to do it themselves and in situations as tonight, Whisky or White Horse hired a lot of cheap snipers instead of going for a few expensive ones, not the smartest if you ask me. How am I doing so far?" Shinichi grinned at the stunned Kaitou KID, and silence reigned in the car.

"IC, if you get blood on the leather of my car you're going to be sorry," Satou growled from the front seat.  
>"Don't worry, Satou-keiji, I would never damage such a beauty," Shinichi promised, smiling.<br>"I'm impressed," KID mumbled stunned and shook his head in befuddlement. "And IC, that's you?"  
>"Yes, I don't want to reveal my name to you or anyone other than the ones I trust enough not to tell the media," the detective lied; he'd love to tell KID his real name, but it would be better if, no, <em>when<em> KID finds him and confronts him in private. Shinichi needed to convince KID that he wasn't like he was before; that he was a better person and, less obnoxious.  
>"How do you know so much?"<br>"The FBI had memory-sticks with a lot of useful information and the rest I found by myself."

"What program is this and what are those dots on the screen?" KID asked as he bent closer to the computer.  
>"It's a program that Chiba-keiji and Agasa-hakase wrote. The red dot is the tracker in the fake Pandora, the yellow ones are radios with their specific frequency and strengths of those frequencies, the green ones are the police, and the blue one is me while the white one is you. The police with laptops are the ones who can see us."<br>"When did you put a transmitter on me?" KID asked and began checking his wrists.  
>"On the first roof," Shinichi said and felt his cheeks heat slightly as he grabbed the thief's suit so he could see it. The little transmitter was placed on one of his buttons.<p>

"And you're a detective?" KID asked in a suddenly excited voice, but Shinichi didn't answer, instead he flicked his wrist and gave the thief a headset. "Did you come up with this plan?" Shinichi nodded before he'd had time to stop himself and KID grinned. "Okay, this could be fun. Detective, amateur magician, smart, fast, can even dodge bullets. So you're obviously good at what you do. Will you come to my next heist?" Shinichi stared, stunned at the grinning thief and blinked. In his mind, it almost sounded like KID was asking him out on a date. "Come on, it'll be fun!"

"Is your taskforce boring you?" Shinichi asked, feeling strangely happy that KID became bored since he left and that the thief wanted him on his heist.  
>"Oh yes, they fall for each and every trick; it's not even funny anymore!" the thief complained and Takagi sent him a strange glance that made Shinichi laugh.<br>"What if I catch you?" the detective asked smiling and KID waved his hand dismissively.  
>"Never going to happen!" he exclaimed confidently and Shinichi mentally agreed.<br>"Do you really think that Nakamori-keibu will let me in?"  
>"Easily taken care of!" KID pulled up a card from his pocket and wrote on it. "Take this and show it to him!" Shinichi took the card and looked at it.<p>

"Yes I see, _'Challenger of Kaitou KID! This is an invitation to my heist and if this card isn't shown to me during my heist, by this person, I will not return your treasure'_ signed Kaitou KID and a picture. I guess he'll curse and let me in," the detective smiled and pocketed the note with the curly handwriting.

The car fell silent as they drove and Shinichi became painfully aware of his shoulder wound. If Snake had just shot the bullet a centimetre to the right it would've been stuck in the vest and not just grazed it. The detective swallowed as he felt blood slowly drift down his chest, leaving a cold, sticky trail underneath his vest, staining his white, thin jumper and making it stick to his skin. But he didn't want to make a detour to the hospital, as he was needed on the scene in case something went wrong, so he concentrated on the task at hand.

"1-62. The helicopter we're following looks like it's preparing to land so we're flying higher to avoid detection," Megure's voice stated.  
>"Good," Shinichi mumbled.<br>"H5 here. We have seen Snake and White Horse; they've made the exchange. Marking Snake," the officer in H5 stated and one of the yellow dots on the screen turned to orange.  
>"Shiratori-keibu, send two civilian cars to follow him, and when we have Whisky, move in and get him," Shinichi said and shivered as the blood was cooling him.<p>

They followed White Horse through traffic until he reached and entered a five star hotel.  
>"Satou-keiji, take the next right. KID, how familiar are you with the Central Iso Hotel?" Shinichi turned to the thief with a small smile.<br>"Not very. I've only flown over it, never entered, but it's some kind of luxury hotel with a huge underground pool," the thief stated and Shinichi picked up a bag from the floor.

"Megure-keibu, keep the helicopters away from the building; we don't want him to run yet, but keep them close enough. Shiratori-keibu, we're going with the Intermezzo, so keep the engines running and be prepared for when Whisky passes. I want one third of the officers out on the streets with a one block radius around the hotel and the rest of your men can begin to prepare to round up the other members, so that they are ready for when he's caught," Shinichi's smile widened as he spoke; everything would soon be over. "Satou-keiji, turn into the alley just ahead, KID and I will go from there," Satou nodded and did as he said.

Shinichi got out of the car with the bag, and with his back turned to the thief he gritted his teeth in pain as he quickly took off his bloodstained suit and shirt. Underneath he had a vest with small pouches of blood, covering his bulletproof vest.

"Is that real blood?" KID asked as he pulled the blood vest off.  
>"Yes," Shinichi mumbled and watched how Satou disappeared into traffic. He dumped the vest on the ground together with the blue bloodstained shirt and white suit. He then pulled out a new shirt and suit which he quickly put on; the shirt immediately became stained, but it didn't matter as long as it wasn't too much.<br>"Okay," the detective said and pulled out the second tranquilizer gun. "Take this. I have another. Only use a maximum of five shots on one single person, otherwise their heart might stop." The thief took it and Shinichi threw a black coat over himself and quickly exchanged the white hat for a smaller black one.  
>"Disguise yourself," the detective glanced at KID as he quickly pulled of the monocle and hid his eyes behind lightly tinted sunglasses.<br>"That's the worst disguise I've seen in a long time," the thief smirked and Shinichi huffed.  
>"I'm not a '<em>master of disguises'<em>, like someone else; I can't do it in a puff of smoke." Shinichi sent the other a glance as he followed his scheme to gain the thief's curiosity.

Shinichi's plan was to get his interest, one way or the other, and the plan to catch Whisky had just enabled him to dress up as the thief; then all he had to do was to appear mysterious and impress KID. The detective had even gained an unexpected bonus; the invitation to the heist. And he'd already decided to show up, but for now Shinichi couldn't make it too easy for the thief to figure out who he was, otherwise he might lose interest. And after he'd nestled his way into the heists, he'd start all of the other schemes he'd been plotting. The detective was fully capable of playing more than one game at once.

* * *

><p>Shinichi looked like a grumpy bodyguard as he entered the elevator together with KID, who had disguised as a young beautiful girl, and the thief certainly looked innocent and vulnerable in Shinichi's eyes. A middle-aged man smacked KID on his backside as the thief entered. The thief let out a girly scream and hid behind the detective; unaware of how he sparked Shinichi's overprotective feelings into full power by doing so. The detective didn't have to pretend to be angry as he gave the man his worst and most evil glare; how dared that disgusting old drunkard touch his thief?<p>

"I-, I'm sorry," the man stammered after the detective's icy eyes fixed on him.  
>"If I ever see something like that again I'm going to break both your arms and legs," growled the guard in a threatening manner and towered over the man, despite the man being taller than Shinichi. KID clung to him until the man fled the elevator on his floor, and as soon as the doors were closed all air seemed to escape Shinichi's lungs while KID began to chuckle.<p>

"You," Shinichi muttered lowly and felt his cheeks reddening, "are absolutely outrageous."  
>"Thank you, thank you. I try," KID chuckled in his own voice and then threw his arms around 'the guard'. The thief looked innocently into Shinichi's surprised eyes and continued to speak in the female voice. "Thank you for rescuing me from the pervert. I don't know what I would have done without you." Shinichi's blush deepened as he stared into the thief's indigo eyes.<br>"Why are you blushing?" KID asked grinning and the detective looked away.  
>"Because you look the way you do, stupid thief, and I <em>know<em> who you really are," he mumbled and KID laughed as he released the flushed detective from his grip.

* * *

><p>"How do you do it?" Shinichi asked as they ran up the stairs towards the roof, a while after he'd gotten over the shyness of KID's sudden, but pleasant, embrace. "How long did it take for you to learn how to change your voice like that?"<br>"Oh, very long," KID answered smiling and watched how the detective picked the lock to the door; just as fast as the thief himself would have.  
>"You know," KID stated as Shinichi opened the door, "for a detective you make a pretty good thief. If you ever decide to leave the police work and become one, let me know. It would be interesting to see what Nakamori-keibu would do if there were two of me." KID laughed amused at the thought. "Please don't say that," said Shinichi as he chuckled; he'd love to see Nakamori's expression if that were to happen. "The only thing I can do is pick locks and pockets, and for this heist I have the help of the police. So I'm not actually that good." KID hummed and watched his impostor with interest, not knowing how tempting his offer had been to the detective, even though it wasn't part of his plan.<p>

"Shiratori-keibu, Megure-keibu, report," Shinichi said and stared out over the sea of lights that was Tokyo.  
>"5-42. We're almost in position. Some people are still stuck in traffic."<br>"1-62. We're in position. I've spared one helicopter to follow Snake; we'll never find him if he goes underground again."  
>"Okay, that's fine," Shinichi stated in the radio and then turned to the thief with a smile, telling him what the Intermezzo was all about.<p>

"Sounds like a plan," the thief said with a smirk as he jumped over the railing with the detective following closely behind

There was something magical about soaring through the dark sky behind KID. His gunshot wound stung, but he easily forced it out of his mind while the adrenalin erased most of the pain. Cold winds tugged at his clothing, but the warmly padded outfit shut out the wind completely. The full moon illuminated the roofs in white, while the streets far below were coloured by cars and street lights. Shinichi watched the other white glider with pure happiness. KID was flying a bit ahead of him and a bit lower so Shinichi could watch him all he wanted; the moonlight was reflected in the white glider and made it seem like it was shining. It was beautiful and Shinichi would love to do it again.

* * *

><p>IntermezzoZwischenschach – Chess, forcing the opponent to make a move that gives the player the advantage. The player then plays the expected move. Checkmate.

H5, Helicopter 5

White Horse – A type of whisky  
>Rose – A type of wine<p> 


	29. Checkmate, my dear Whisky

A/N: Okay, seriously. My brain is not being cooperative; I now have five other stories that my brain wants to write... D:

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

Uploaded: 2012-05-29  
>Revised: 2014-09-15<br>Chapter rating: T  
>Words: 4,100<p>

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><p><strong>Chap. 29<strong>  
><strong>Checkmate, my dear Whisky<strong>

Down on the 23rd floor, they watched White Horse pace back and forth outside one of the huge meeting rooms as he waited for Whisky. They were standing in the far end of the corridor, inside the stairwell, using a coin to keep the door slightly ajar.

Shinichi never noticed when KID frowned and began studying him worriedly; the thief had discovered that he had blood spreading from the shoulder, even though most of it ran underneath the vest. A swift hand covered the detective's mouth and forced him up against the wall before he realised what was happening. Shinichi gasped and eyed him in shock, but didn't have time to protest before KID had opened his tie and shirt and was staring at the wound in his shoulder.  
>"I knew it! You idiot!" the thief hissed quietly at the detective, making him tense.<br>"No, don't," Shinichi quickly whispered and tried to stop KID from opening the bulletproof vest to look at the white shirt, but it was no use; KID was faster than him and he gasped when he saw the shirt that stuck tightly to the detective's chest. Shinichi assumed that almost his entire torso was covered in the red liquid by now; he had after all felt how it had slowly spread.

Shinichi closed his eyes and turned his head away, realising that KID would be angry. He would be, if it had been the other way around; being injured drastically increased the chances of dying.  
>"You," KID murmured with his voice strained in a strange way; it was like he was trying to grasp for words that could describe his anger, but the words didn't exist, or wanted to shout at him, but couldn't, since that would draw attention to them. "Why the <em>hell<em> haven't you told anyone?" KID growled lowly, too close to the detective, and Shinichi swallowed nervously; his brain was anything but cooperative, bringing up memories from some of his wilder dreams, and forcing him to fight a blush.  
>"I've had worse, and I'm not going to let that man go underground," Shinichi met KID's eyes with a determined gaze; he was doing everything for the thief, so that he would be safe, but that was something he couldn't say loudly.<p>

Kaito sighed; it was obvious by the look in the detective's eyes that he would continue no matter what he did.  
>"Listen to me KID," Imposter-san mumbled with sad eyes and a gentle smile played on his lips. "Our goal might be the same," he whispered as Kaito lost himself in those warm blue eyes, "but that doesn't change the fact that you <em>can't<em> do this alone. You can never catch them alone. The only reason the police listen to me is because I'm a detective. They won't listen to you because they only see you as a thief." Kaito stared at the detective and felt a shiver run through him; it was like Imposter-san's eyes were burning and there was something in his gaze that made Kaito nervous. The magician knew that what Imposter-san said was true; the police wouldn't listen to a thief without unmasking him and that was one of the main reasons as to why he didn't go to them for help.  
>"So what am I to you if not a thief?" the magician mumbled and Imposter-san's eyes sparkled in amusement.<br>"You are a bit of an eccentric magician, a fun puzzle wrapped in an interesting riddle. Now, we should check on White Horse," Imposter-san asserted and Kaito immediately went to look into the corridor; White Horse was still pacing.

Shinichi turned his back to the thief; he was fighting his blush fiercely as he closed his shirt and reattached the tie. He was annoyed at himself for not being able to keep himself from constantly reddening when he was around the other.  
>"How about a change of plans?" the detective asked after he turned around and smirked as KID looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "as soon as the plan here is done, you can go after Snake in a helicopter and I'll only supervise the capture of Whisky, instead of going face to face with him." KID frowned as the thought about it. "I'm fine for now. I haven't lost that much blood; I'm not even dizzy yet," the detective lied; he was dizzy and his pulse was racing, but if that was because of KID, the mission, being shot at, adrenalin, the blood loss or everything combined, he didn't know, but he knew that he wouldn't be able to go face to face with Whisky. KID stared at the detective and seemed to slowly reach a conclusion.<br>"I wouldn't let you do the next part even if you fought me, but tying you up and leaving you here seems too risky. Transmit the change of plans and I'll go along with it," the thief muttered and sent an annoyed gaze at his white gloves, which were half covered in blood, before going back to survey the man in the corridor.

"The door just opened and people in suits are exiting," KID mumbled as the detective tried hard not to stare at the thief, "White Horse is speaking with someone." Shinichi looked out through the gap and the thief moved so that he could get a better view.

Whisky waved to the others that had been on the meeting, indicating that he would stay behind. He was smiling politely and by the way he looked he could've been the neighbour next door. The man had gentle eyes, hidden behind glasses, and a very dominant posture. He had a well-defined jaw, narrow lips, and a short cut, dark brown hair while his skin was a flawless shade of olive. Shinichi was surprised by the man's appearance; in most cases when a person had had a past like him there was some kind of tell, like Gin's murderous eyes, not many people could avoid getting changed by working with years and years of torture, murder and human experimentation.  
>"We've got visual on Whisky," Shinichi quietly informed the others, "he's changed slightly; no beard or moustache and shorter hair, otherwise he looks the same as in the FBI's file."<p>

As soon as the elevator doors closed the man's eyes grew cold and his smile morphed into a hungry grin.  
>'Hello,' Shinichi thought, 'showing our real colours, are we?'<p>

"Give it to me," the man demanded and White Horse took out the fake Pandora as they walked to the large window at the end of the hallway.  
>"I've checked it myself," White Horse announced confidently, obviously proud to have delivered it, "and Snake killed Kaitou KID." The boss snorted at the statement.<br>"Again?" he asked and chuckled a little, not actually caring if the thief was dead or alive, "and what about his assistant?" The man gave his subordinate a smug glance as he examined the gem in the moonlight and White Horse swallowed nervously.  
>"I don't know. He was alone during the heist."<p>

"And you think that he stole Pandora _and_ took out our snipers singlehandedly, at the same time?" Whisky's voice grew irate as he spoke and he threw White Horse a bored stare before he continued. "No one can know that we have this," he declared quieter and hid the gem in his palm, "you are not allowed to mention it to anyone, _not even me_, otherwise _that woman_ will find us before we're finished. She's probably already out there, not far away, and slowly sneaking closer."  
>"You mean Vermouth?" White Horse asked and Shinichi drew a sharp breath, which made the thief send him a glance.<br>"Who else would I be talking about?" Whisky snarled and glared at White Horse like he thought he was an idiot, "she will never stop looking for it, you know, and as long as her masters had it, she obeyed like a faithful dog. I don't even think they told her that they lost it, but she must've known, and _that_ is why they are gone, destroyed from within. How else would the FBI have had information on everyone if it wasn't an inside job?" the boss smirked as he pocketed the replica and walked over to the elevators.

"We need to get as far away as soon as possible. Get ready to go to America and meet me at the JFK Airport in New York. Take the soonest flight you can. I'm going there now and don't arrive at the airport at the same time as I do, if you take the same flight, make sure you're not followed." The ding from the elevator told them that it had arrived and Shinichi sent KID a glance. The thief nodded and placed the white smiley-mask over his face, silently understanding what he meant. Shinichi moved out of the way while KID backed a few steps, ran for the door and then slammed it open.

"You! Murderer!" the thief called out in a deeper and older voice than what he normally had as he made a run for White Horse, who gasped, but was thrown to the floor by the thief's body before he had time to do anything.  
>"Where is Pandora?!" KID roared at the man as the doors to the elevator closed completely and smoke erupted around the man. The elevator started to descend and the thief smiled down at the now tied up and gagged man.<p>

"Tell me, Imposter-san," the thief began as Shinichi joined them, "what would you have done if I decided to not work with you?"  
>"I would've gassed you," Shinichi stated casually and KID snorted amused, "just kidding. There were multiple plans if you decided to work against us. One was a fake transport of Pandora, another was that Satou-keiji was going to brag to one of the members that she was protecting the real one and a third was to just hand the gem to one of the members, which could've aroused suspicion after you disappeared after a <em>failed<em> heist and they might've examined the gem closer. Many, many other plans too," the detective explained calmly as he stared at the 'floor number'-display above the elevator and sighed.  
>"Exchange successful," Shinichi informed the others through the headset while the captured man stared at them in shock, "we've got White Horse. Whisky is heading for an airport; he's going to travel to New York. We'll see if he goes to a safe house before the airport or just, home."<p>

"5-42. I've sent one car to pick up White Horse, they are waiting in an alley for Pandora to move out and away from the building," Shiratori answered after a moment and KID gave Shinichi a glare.  
>"Are there any injuries?" he asked as the thief tilted his head in annoyance.<br>"1-62. Only a few bruises from members that resisted when they woke up and discovered that they were being brought in," Megure answered.  
>"14-12. There has been a change of plans since your lovely little detective has been shot and should go to the hospital," KID said and made up his own number as he got bothered by the outdrawn reluctance of the detective.<br>"Again?" the thief frowned at the question by the inspector, "how many times have you been shot now?"  
>"Eh, eight times, but this time it's just in the shoulder and it didn't hit anything important."<br>"Humph, the FBI is obviously bad for you, you should come back permanently."  
>"Yes, I'm back now and I'm fine, but I'll be going with you, Megure-keibu, to oversee the capture of Whisky," Shinichi smiled at the slightly annoyed thief. 'Damn it, I can stop irritating him. KID,' Shinichi said firmly in his head, 'stop being so horribly cute when I annoy you.'<p>

"Chiba-keiji, pick up KID and let him help you in my place. If anyone can bring Snake in without serious injuries it's him." Shinichi didn't want to send his thief into harm's way, but KID would never forgive him if he was somehow able to stop him.  
>"If you say so, we've trusted your decisions so far. I'll will come and pick you up and Chiba-keiji will pick up Kaitou KID." The thief grinned as he grabbed a hold of one of the ropes that tied up White Horse and dragged the wide-eyed man over the carpeted floor into the stairwell.<p>

"We're going to leave you here," the thief said and then turned to the impostor that had followed him, "you can go ahead, I think I can catch up with you now. I want some _alone time_ with him." KID's voice was threatening while his eyes gleamed of mischief and he winked. Shinichi shrugged and left, knowing that the thief wouldn't physically harm the man even if he would torment him.

Kaito watched how Imposter-san walked up the stairs until he disappeared and the thief grinned evilly as he turned his attention back to White Horse. He made a muffled sound and shook his head.  
>"Oh?" Kaito said as he leaned in a bit closer, "what was that?" He placed a hand by his ear like he was trying to hear better, "are you saying that <em>you want me to hurt you<em>?" The man's eyes widened in fear and he shook his head violently, causing the thief to chuckle coldly as an unfriendly smile curved his lips.

"Now, Horse," the thief said viciously as he nonchalantly eyed the blood on his right glove. "This is your last moments in freedom, so why don't we make it _memorable_," Kaito murmured darkly and grinned hungrily as he pulled out a small knife. The man only stared at him in fear, too scared to struggle and too restrained to flee.  
>"This might-," the thief frowned thoughtfully as he stopped to consider what he'd said, "no, it <em>will<em> hurt, _a lot_." White Horse started to struggle hard and his cries for help was efficiently quenched by the gag. The thief sprayed the man with his sleep inducing gas and sighed. "But mostly, it will hurt your pride," he stated as he got to work.

* * *

><p>It didn't take long before Shinichi sat beside Megure and watched how KID entered the news helicopter.<br>"IC! What the hell?! Did you and KID do this?!" a transmission filled with laughter was heard and Shinichi frowned.  
>"7-2-4. I haven't done anything. KID, what did you do?" Shinichi asked as both of the helicopters headed in different directions.<br>"14-12. Just pull in the string by the door and he'll come down. I tied him to the ceiling and, _fixed_ _him_," KID answered and Shinichi got a vision of a widely grinning thief.  
>"Got it," the other officer snickered and the detective shook his head in exhaustion.<p>

The black helicopter followed the unknowing Whisky to his home and Shinichi watched how he pulled out his phone as he exited the cab.  
>"Can you take the shot?" he asked as the sniper took aim, but then shook his head. Whisky placed the phone next to his ear.<br>"Shiratori-keibu, report on the members and is anyone of them receiving a phone call?"  
>"5-42. No one, but I have no eyes on Snake. Viper and Monkey was caught during the heist. Viper was the one who shot at you inside the target room." Shinichi watched how Whisky dialled a new number as he entered his house. "Wolf and Jaguar are at a small diner, they have backpacks and Wolf just got a call. They are leaving."<br>"Move in," Shinichi commanded and waited.

"We got them," Shiratori declared in the headset and then continued, "Fox is in her apartment reading a book. Lynx is pacing back and forth in his living room and Bat is having a coffee inside his car, sitting outside someone's house observing them. Wait, Lynx just got a call. And now he began to pack."  
>"Go get him too, and you can get Bat whenever you'd like since they are leaving him behind," Shinichi informed and Megure sent him a glance, wondering how he knew, but instead of answering the detective simply waved his hand a bit airily. "Shiratori-keibu, is everything ready?"<br>"5-42. Yes, we have three cars at the nearest airport and four cars circling nearby in case he goes somewhere else, not counting the ones just around the corner from his current location."

"2-21. Snake just drove into an old and nowadays unused harbour, but I think that they rent out storage facilities and water storages."  
>"Move in on him <em>now<em>, he probably has his pontoon plane there. KID, don't let him start it."  
>"Bossy~," KID said with glee, "how do you know that he has a plane?"<p>

"Irrelevant," Shinichi answered short and his patience disappeared completely as he felt how the fatigue got a stronger hold over him; he was cold and had begun to breathe heavy, he was fighting the weariness for all he was worth.  
>"Give me your weapon," he demanded and the sniper did as he was told. The detective held into the weapon with his right hand while supporting the barrel on the tip of his right shoe. Whisky exited his house and Shinichi smirked. He watched as Whisky got halfway to the taxicab and Shinichi forced his injured arm to grip into the rifle to steady it. The detective gritted his teeth and fired. Whisky twitched and then slowly collapsed.<br>"We've got Whisky, _move in!_"

Megure watched how the young Kudou leaned back into his seat and sighed deeply.  
>"Checkmate, my dear Whisky," the old inspector heard the youth mumble as he took the weapon away from him. The teenager's eyes slowly sealed and the panting became a steady breathing.<br>"Oi, IC?" Megure said and then shook the young detective carefully. "Kudou-kun!" he turned the boy's face towards him; he was very pale. "Get us to the nearest hospital, _now!_" Megure roared to the pilot and felt the entire helicopter shift. "Ooka-keiji, you are not allowed to tell anyone about what this boy has done," Megure said to the sniper as he quickly pulled of the unconscious teenager's hat, monocle, mantle and suit; it would arouse too much turmoil around the hospital if they brought in an unconscious Kaitou KID.  
>"He's back," Ooka gasped as he recognised the Detective of the East.<p>

* * *

><p>Kaito smirked at the officers inside his helicopter; everyone except Chiba was nervous from his presence.<br>"Move in on him _now_, he probably has his pontoon plane there. KID, don't let him start it."  
>"Bossy~," the thief said gleefully and hoped that he would appear to be as calm as he pretended to be, "how do you know that he has a plane?"<br>"Irrelevant," came the short and somewhat angry response. The thief opened the door with a shrug and fell out of the opening. He soared down to the storage facility which they'd seen Snake enter.

"We've got Whisky, _move in!_" Kaito smiled when he heard that and silently landed beside an old and broken window. Inside there was a pontoon plane, standing in a pool of water which flooded inside from the hangar doors, but other than that; nothing but metal pipes, stairs, railings, beams and empty storage shelves. Snake was walking towards a button beside the large doors and Kaito quickly opened the window and landed on a beam as he slipped inside. The thief placed one speaker on the metal underneath him and silently ran over to the wall where he placed the next. The facility was mostly obscured in darkness with only some old and dusty light bulbs hanging in the air, creating a dim light.

Kaito pulled out his card gun and immediately fired at the plane's rotor blades; he didn't want to shoot Snake with the strange tranquilizer gun without him knowing _exactly_ who it was that caught him. Snake twitched at the sound and spun around while the thief fired at the fuel tank, cutting it open and allowing the gasoline to drain into the water. Kaito quickly moved along the beam close to the wall, knowing that the assassin wouldn't be able to see him in the darkness. He placed another speaker on the wall as he got to the corner and then used a rope to get down to the small balcony-like second floor. Snake was investigating what had happened to the plane and pulled out one card from the propeller with a disgruntled look.  
>"I killed you, KID!" he roared out into the quiet storage.<br>"Actually, no," Kaito answered and his voice echoed from three different places and he slid down one pillar to get to the same floor as Snake, "you shot my impostor which was working with the police, and he's still alive so you did a _great_ job." The thief watched with a smile how Snake pointed the gun towards the roof.

"You have an uncanny ability to stay alive, Toichi! After I kill you, I'll get that wife and son of yours!" the man called out with a dark smile. Kaito knew that Snake was trying to rile him up into doing a mistake, but he couldn't stop the anger that started to pulse through his body. "I haven't touched them since they have nothing to do with _our_ business, but now I'm thinking that I might still have some _fun_ with her before I kill her before your son's eyes," a horrible picture of Snake forcing himself on Chikage flashed through Kaito's mind and he felt sick. He couldn't get the image out of his head and he gritted his teeth as the anger turned into rage. His body trembled with fury and for once in his life he wanted someone dead, in a slow and excruciatingly painful way.  
>"I would kill you before that would ever happen," Kaito announced quietly through the speakers and Snake's smile was broadened as he heard the anger in the thief's voice.<p>

"Maybe I'll rape her before your son's eyes," the murderer said almost thoughtfully and chuckled. Kaito's eyes widened and he got the image back. He shook his head trying to get it out of his mind and tried to keep the little calm he had left. Kaito picked up a small metal pipe from the ground, threw it and ran in the different direction. Snake's attention was immediately drawn to the noise and Kaito shot the grappling hook to the roof. A shot rang off and almost hit him.  
>"Come out and play, Toichi," Snake backed towards the stairs as Kaito pulled out the tranquilizer gun. The thief walked on the beam on the opposite side of the building while Snake slowly walked up the stairs.<p>

As Snake got to the top of the stairs movement in the corner of his eyes made him jolt his head towards the wall. The shadow of Kaitou KID had been displayed in the light that flooded in through the window high up on the wall. He glanced around, now knowing that the thief was somewhere higher than him. A muffled gunshot was heard and Snake twitched as it struck him. The murderer immediately pulled out the small syringe from his arm and leaned on the wall as he felt his body slowly relax. He was caught and he knew it; police sirens could be heard from outside and the light from their cars were lighting up the dust in the windows. Snake wasn't surprised when the white-clad thief showed up from nowhere and smiled as he watched him. Anger glowed from the one eye that wasn't obscured and it was obvious to Snake that he'd gone too far when he threatened the thief's family.

Kaito's hand trembled slightly and he was gripping hard into the gun; he could shoot him again before the police came, just for good measure.  
>"With abilities like yours you could do anything and everything," the murderer spoke slowly and it seemed like he was falling asleep. "Why a thief? Why do you-" suddenly the man interrupted himself as he shot out from the wall and grabbed the thief. Kaito didn't have time to react before they tumbled down the metal stairs and he hissed in pain as he struck his head in the hard steps. "You," Snake gasped as he stared at the thief that laid on top of him, "you're not Toichi, you're Kaito." The thief forced his eyes open and stared at the surprised man; he had lost both his hat and monocle in the fall.<p>

The door was thrown open and police officers ran into the building as Kaito got up and swayed lightly.  
>"Kaitou KID's identity is Kuroba Kaito!" the man yelled to the cops and Kaito felt his heart beat in panic; how would he get out of this? "Kuroba Kaito is Kaitou KID!" Snake called out before he lost consciousness and there was no way that the police didn't hear him.<p> 


	30. Exposed

A/N: I seriously didn't expect so many people to read or review this story. I'm glad that you like it :D

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

Uploaded: 2012-05-03  
>Revised: 2014-09-15<br>Chapter rating: T  
>Words: 2,300<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Chap. 30<br>Exposed**

With his back towards the cops they couldn't see his face so the thief quickly pulled out a neutral facemask which he hastily glued over his face. He checked the edges in his small handheld mirror as Takagi walked passed him; it was good enough in the bad lighting and he still looked like himself.

As the officer cuffed the man he glanced up towards KID, just to look like he'd done something wrong and Kaito made a natural laugh.  
>"Don't worry, Takagi-keiji, this is not my real face," the thief grinned as he hid behind a perfect poker face.<br>"So," Satou said as she walked past him and studied his face, "why did he call you Kuroba Kaito?" Kaito's smile died and he couldn't stop himself from letting the pain show.  
>"I-," the thief sighed; he'd have to make up a really good lie, "Kuroba Kaito's father, Kuroba Toichi," he began and quickly came up with the perfect lie, "was one of the world's best magicians and I was at a lot of his performances, causing my heists and his shows to end up close together. Snake killed him, thinking it was me and I stopped stealing because of guilt. I began stealing again to see if I could somehow lure them out and-," Kaito stopped talking and Satou stared at him in fascination, "and I don't know. Just to get whatever they were looking for."<p>

The thief watched how the sleeping man was taken away by two officers.  
>"Please, don't give Kuroba Kaito too much trouble because of me. I'm only wearing a mask and he has already lost his father because of me," Kaito tore of the lower part of the mask to show her that it really was a mask and Satou nodded. Kaito knew that he would be interrogated by the police because of Snake, but his imaginative brain had already come up with a great lie.<br>"I'm sorry about my abrupt goodbye but I really need to get home, feed doves and all that," the thief said and smoke covered the place. When it cleared he was gone and a single red rose was lying on the floor.

* * *

><p>As soon as Kaito opened the door to his home he found himself in a tight hug.<br>"Kaito! Where have you been? You have no idea how worried I was! Especially after I saw you wounded on TV!"  
>"Mom, that wasn't me. It was Imposter-san! He's a detective, and the organisation is gone! I caught Snake!" Kaito was blabbing out of control as Chikage led him to the kitchen. He got more and more drained as the adrenalin slowly left him while he at the same time was quivering out of joy as he told her what they had done and how close he'd been to capture. He was finally close to finishing everything; all he needed was to destroy Pandora.<p>

"... And Imposter-san was great! Avoiding bullets, performing magic, pretending to be me. He looked like me and he had almost the same voice!" Kaito froze as his brain finally exposed what had been bothering him the entire time. "He's a detective who's been gone for a while, working with the FBI. Oh my God! That was Kudou Shinichi!" Kaito stared wide-eyed into the wall in front of him; the voice, the face, gone, working with the FBI, why didn't he figure it out sooner? How many people looked enough like him to be his twin?

"Oh! He's back! I have to visit him tomorrow! Ask how he's been, how he's doing, and pressure him for information about Pandora," Kaito hummed as Chikage pulled him up from the floor and placed his arm around her shoulders so that he could support himself on her. He'd been talking slurred with closed eyes for a while and didn't stop as they slowly made their way to his room, "that can't be easy. He was running around with a bullet wound and didn't show much, but I wasn't really paying attention to injuries. I just assumed that he wasn't wounded and I feared that he might try and lure me into a trap. It was interesting because he was really good at avoiding my cards too, I mean, the only one who is even close to how good he was is Tantei-kun. I calculated how he would avoid the cards and shot there, with Tantei-kun I deliberately missed, because he's a child; I can't shoot sharp cards at a child, and he might get really hurt with a tiny body like that compared to an almost adult. Maybe I can tease Imposter-san into revealing something or scare him, no, he won't be scared by a non-violent thief," Chikage smiled when her son's ramblings ended up in a cooing sound as he sighed. She redressed him, tucked him in bed and watched him fall asleep. Chikage was just happy that he was home in one piece and not in a body bag.

* * *

><p>Darkness.<p>

Then lights, blurred out of proportions.

Elongated lights travelled above him, or was it he who was moving? Where was the helicopter? Was that a ceiling? A hospital ceiling?

Then darkness again.

A face. Female, pleasant. Blue facemask; doctor. She looked worried. The woman removed the facemask and her mouth moved. She spoke, but he couldn't hear anything.

Darkness.

* * *

><p>Hakuba frowned worriedly as he glanced around the classroom; Kuroba wasn't there, and the Brit really needed to know what had happened. Was he injured again? Captured? Or worse, was he dead? The detective nervously tapped his pen against the desk and the small noise was drowned in the murmur from his classmates. The teacher was there watching the clock on the wall; he was ready to hand out the tests, knowing that the last student would most likely appear when they heard the school's chime.<p>

When the loud bell interrupted the students' chatting the wild haired teen ran through the doors and Hakuba sighed in relief; at least he wasn't dead, just narrowly in time. He looked awfully tired yet extremely happy, and if that was to cover up that he was unhappy Hakuba didn't know until they'd spoken.

Hakuba kept studying the thief after he'd finished the English essay; the other teenager finished soon after him and was busy with drawing doves on the back of the paper to keep himself from playing a prank on anyone. When it rang for lunch Kuroba vanished in a puff of smoke and Hakuba swore quietly; they needed to talk, and the magician didn't show up for their 'unimportant', non-test-filled afternoon classes either.

* * *

><p>Kaito smirked as he entered the library through an already open window. He walked up to the work desk and grinned; school books, half-finished assignments, an empty cup of what used to hold coffee and one open book; Sherlock Holmes. The thief quietly made his way through the enormous house to the hallway. He was on high alert since the detective was sneaky, and could be at home. He clearly wasn't 'just a nobody'. There were jackets and shoes for one male teenager, so he was most likely living alone. Kaito smirked amused as he passed another half-filled cup of coffee that had been left in a hurry, and was just about to pass the kitchen when something caught his eye. There on the counter was a cake; chocolate, the middle had a lighter brown chocolate cream while the top had a darker frosting. Kaito felt his mouth water; he'd skipped lunch to faster get to the home of Kudou Shinichi so he had more time to get information out of him.<p>

'He bakes?' Kaito though with fascination as he neared the cake; it was half-eaten, and had some kind of chocolate sauce around it. The plate was placed on top of a note so he moved the plate and read;

_"Good morning, Meitantei  
>I hope everything went well.<em>

_I came to get back my cookbook since Hakase wants to try a new recipe today, but wow! Here I thought that you wanted to become a better cook (you need to, your food is barely eatable) and not just bake every damn cake you could find in my book. What's wrong with you? _

_And please, do tell me it has something to do with that. _

_I tried some of your cakes, they are very tasty compared to your food, but that doesn't say much, however the last one is way too chocolaty. How about a name for it; "Death by Chocolate" or "Chocolate Cake of Death"?_

_BTW. If you're not going to eat them you could give them to the kids, they'd love that.  
>They've been asking about Edogawa-kun, he should call them.<em>

_Haibara."_

Kaito stared at the note and then at the cake; the girl must've been there eating cake in the morning.  
>"Meitantei, huh?" Kaito smirked; that was a suitable name for the odd and slightly crazy detective, "welcome home Meitantei-san, and the second thing I want to ask you about will be Tantei-kun, since you obviously know where he is or have some way to contact him." The thief placed the note on the counter, set the plate with the cake on top and reluctantly left the kitchen. He slowly and silently made his way to the laundry room to check the clothing. The thief grabbed a hanger and dug around a little in the laundry basket; everything was male except one blouse.<br>'Girlfriend? Irene Singer?' Kaito stared at it; it was big and would most likely fit himself. 'Meitantei-san, do you dress up as a girl?' the thief snickered amused at the thought of Kudou Shinichi dressing up as his own girlfriend.

The thief made his way back to the hallway and gaped as he stared into the kitchen; the cake was taunting him! The frosting had melted and begun to flow down to the plate; he'd never seen anything that delicious. The cake was obviously saying; "Greetings my lovely thief! I belong to Kudou Shinichi! I am but a small cake, carefully carved out from a big one, and you ca~an't eat us!" It was probably laughing at him too...

'It isn't very gentlemanlike to steal a cake,' Kaito pouted as he left the kitchen again and walked up the stairs to get to the detective's room, 'it's very Kaito-like, but not KID-like.' The thief entered the room and glanced around. There were more school books on the desk in his room and the bed wasn't made; he was back, how had the thief missed him? Kaito walked up to the desk and stared at the papers that were placed in a neat pile; thick finished assignments were lying on top of each other. The thief frowned and walked up to the wardrobe; male clothes and two other blouses, but no KID-outfit. Kaito searched the room for any hidden space where he could've hidden the mantle and hat, but found none; he didn't know that the outfit currently was safely kept in a box at the police station by Megure.

'Oh, a kinky detective,' Kaito smirked as he eyed the thick ropes that were embedded into metal rings around the bedposts. The thief looked underneath the bed and cackled inside his head; at the end of the ropes there were thick leather restraints that were smooth on the inside so they wouldn't chafe the wrists. Kaito tilted his head as he saw a bigger ring covered in some kind of fabric; the rope was too short to get to the wrists and the ring was too big for the wrists. 'A collar too, now that's kinky. So Meitantei-san, are you the one who's chained, or your girlfriend?'

Kaito snickered as he went down the stairs and his legs brought him back to the kitchen; if the detective came to his heists he could have a lot of fun with him, since he wasn't afraid of kinky stuff. The thief slowly opened the fridge ajar; it could contain great evil, together with that obviously divine "Death by Chocolate" cake. Who would put such horrible things together with something that delicious? Kaito peaked inside; no disgusting things, but on one shelf was that chocolate cake and beside it stood a glass decanter filled with chocolate sauce. The thief smirked as he stopped caring about stealing food. The teenager took out the decanter and cake and placed them on the counter; he could tell that the cake was home made since the frosting wasn't as evenly spread out as it should've been, but practise would make perfect. He could come back and steal cake from time to time; that would certainly cause the Great Detective of the East to scratch his head! The thief laughed as he cut a piece of the cake and poured some sauce on top of it.

He grinned as he seated himself in the library to wait for the owner of the house and while he ate the cake he thought of ways to dress the detective. He thought of maid's outfits, dresses, high heels, and in the end ended up with some kind of male dominatrix; a blue and black leather mask which covered his nose and lower face to make him look dangerous, together with a blue and black corset to compliment his hair and eyes. The corset would be sleeveless and have a collar-like top. Some really nice leather pants which showed off his legs, black boots and a whip. The thief smirked amused; that thought wasn't too bad, not too naked or too obscene, but it would be a project for later testing so that his Meitantei-san wouldn't freak out and not show up on his heists anymore.

Kaito waited the entire day but the detective never came home.


	31. Memories of the Ancient

A/N: Thank you for reviewing! I become so happy! :D

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

_'Pandora speaking'  
><em>'general thinking'  
>"talking"<p>

Uploaded: 2012-05-07  
>Revised: 2014-09-15<br>Chapter rating: T  
>Words: 4,100<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Chap. 31<br>Memories of the Ancient **

Something happened to the darkness; it changed, became darker and he felt like he was completely awake. Shinichi could see himself clear as day, yet everything around him was pitch-black. He looked down on his hands and then eyed the nothingness surrounding him. The darkness was almost painful as it pressed against his eyes.

A single red light drew his gaze upwards. The little light was slowly falling towards him, like a snowflake in a perfectly still day. The detective held out his hand and caught the light on his palm. It was solid and had a strange shape; a circle with a 'V' on top of it. Shinichi gasped and pulled his hand away as he saw how the shape began to melt into it, but once the shape didn't have a surface to lie on it continued like it had never been interrupted. He stared at his hand, examining it for a wound, but he found nothing; it was like the light hadn't even touched him. Shinichi frowned and went on to examine the wound in his shoulder; he didn't have one anymore.

More lights appeared above his head; five, ten, and then more and more. The teenager moved so that none of the lights touched him as they fell. It didn't feel like a dream, yet what else could it be? The falling lights suddenly exploded in a silent bang, causing what seemed like small fireworks to go off everywhere. The rays of exploded light formed shapes, and then he recognised the library in his house.

"Hallelujah!" a bored and ironic voice stated from behind him and Shinichi spun around, "he's finally listening." Someone was sitting with their feet on the desk in the library reading a newspaper with flickering red pictures.  
>"Murders and accidents, boring," the man mumbled behind the newspaper and Shinichi stared, "last time I tried to make you listen you fought me, and almost killed both of us, idiotic. But it was partly my fault; you were ill and forced me to send our body into panic and shock in order to make you stop. It was fun that KID got worried, though."<p>

He hummed in interest, "Kaitou KID is holding another heist. It's the fourth one, counting our. Twice in a row. The media knows that our heist was staged. They know of the takedown and that Kaitou KID was in on it. Megure has been able to keep our name out of it, but they have assembled for a press release in two days and I'm guessing that they are going to tell the truth then. Oh, and our parents are back! I guess Megure called them when we slipped into a coma."

"What? Coma? Who are you? And how do you know things like that?" the detective interrupted the man's long list of information as he changed page in the newspaper, still holding it up so that Shinichi couldn't see him.  
>"Tch, use your brain, and it's funny that it takes a coma for you to listen, kind of annoying too. Now there is nothing else you can do but to listen, and it <em>still<em> took provokingly long."  
>"Pandora?" Shinichi asked carefully.<br>"Yep," Pandora answered and folded the newspaper, revealing what he looked like. Shinichi gaped; he was looking at himself. Pandora looked just like him but with red glowing eyes.  
>"So I'm in a coma?" Pandora nodded as an answer and flattened the newspaper on the desk; the front page had changed, "how do you know?"<p>

"I hear what you hear, I see what you see and I feel what you feel. The doctors told our parents and I heard it while you were sleeping like a rock," Pandora grinned amused as he watched the picture, "Satou-san is back. She brought flowers and says that she's sorry. She should have seen that something was wrong with us." His smile died as he read out loud and then mumbled, "you shouldn't blame yourself, hun, this wasn't your fault."

"How long have I been out?" Shinichi asked as he sat down in a chair beside the other, still keeping his eyes on Pandora, studying him.  
>"A couple of days and I think that KID is bored out of his mind and wants us there, the last note had a question written at the end; 'Where is My Challenger-san?'" Pandora snickered, "he's a lot of fun."<br>"So," Shinichi blushed, "you hear, feel and see _everything_ that I do?" The detective's blush deepened as Pandora grinned at him and nodded.  
>"<em>Absolutely<em> _everything_," the teenager with red eyes whispered with a gleeful suggestiveness, knowing what the detective was asking about, "every perverted thought, action and dream, although, I did cause you some of the dreams, lovely aren't they?" Pandora winked at him, "Mmm, dreams. I can't wait until we finally get our hands on him." The gem chuckled, "so much to experience so little time."

"I'm not sure that I'm comfortable touching him _at all_ knowing that you are watching." Pandora looked at him in surprise but then leaned back.  
>"I'm sure that you'll get used to me, living in your head, and you have to realise that I've experienced almost everything that you've experienced so far and that we are almost the same person because of that. I still have the things that makes me me. I want to experience everything. Learn, feel. I <em>want<em> knowledge. I crave it. What is the purpose of life if you can't taste experience to the utmost reach?" Pandora wondered and his eyes gleamed with happiness.

"Why do we have little time? Am I-, I mean, are we going to die?" Shinichi asked concerned and the jewel shook his head.  
>"When you've lived for thousands of years, eighty years is nothing. However, I've tried to gain knowledge by myself, but I kept falling asleep and being awake these last twelve years has been great. I haven't been awake for so long in literally an eternity."<br>"Whisky mentioned that Vermouth was after you, do you know why or is it simply because you can bring immortality?" Pandora grimaced at his question.

"There's something that you should know; I always feel like something is missing or wrong with me and there's a reason for that. I've tried to remember about the last times that I was awakened but I can only get small fragments; a place, a lake, a house, a room, a chamber, and something strange that I can't even understand; I want to say space ship, simply because space ships are awesome but the architecture suggests some old culture which worshipped water. I'm sad to say it, but I lost my memories when I revived you. I don't even understand what these books say!" the gem made a frustrated gesture towards the books, "check them!"

"You can give me dreams? Does that mean that you can control me?" Shinichi asked in interest as he got up and walked over to where he knew that Conan Doyle's books stood.  
>"I have no control over you, but I can suggest things. Like bombard your brain with one thing and reward you when you do it; I can control your production of endorphins, serotonin, noradrenalin and dopamine! How fun isn't that!"<br>"That sounds like everything but fun, for me at least," the detective stated loudly as he grabbed one book and frowned as he opened it. "It's empty."  
>"Then check another one." Shinichi sighed and did as he was told.<p>

Red writing shined on its pages; every letter was straight, blocky, the same size and the text were dominated by straight angles. There were no curved forms or shapes, simply lines and strange patterns. He glanced over the pages and flipped through the book but he couldn't find the shape of the light that he'd seen first.  
>"Oi, Pandora, is there a circle with a 'V' on top of it?" Shinichi watched how Pandora nodded.<br>"Yes, but not in many books. The even stranger letters fall in sets of six," the gem smiled and pointed out through one window, "the only ones of them that doesn't look like a metal circle that's been run over by a car is the hourglass-shaped, the big triangle, the two small triangles and the one you mentioned, but you saw it upside down. Don't ask how I know, I just do. It's a circle that's held up by two legs, but I have no idea what anything means." Shinichi stared out through the windows; he'd been too absorbed by Pandora and everything else to notice the red rain outside, which fell slowly and in completely straight lines.

"Okay, so what do we do now?" the detective asked and Pandora shrugged.  
>"Get to know each other. We're at Beika Central Hospital and I can feel my own strength increasing for every moment that we're here so for the moment I don't really care. We just have to wait until our body wakes up and then we can leave and initialise the next phase; meet Kuroba Kaito!" Pandora smiled happily, "life's fun." He sighed contently and leaned back into the chair. "If you don't want to socialise you can sleep in your room or on the couch; our body will probably wake around noon tomorrow."<p>

* * *

><p>Shinichi opened his eyes and saw a white roof; he was in a private room at the hospital.<br>"Pandora?" he mumbled quietly and moved his body as he checked for any other injuries than the one in his shoulder.  
><em>'You don't have to talk aloud for me to hear you,'<em> he got a strange feeling, since the voice in his head sounded like his own yet he knew that it wasn't he who was talking.  
>'Do you think that people who hear voices hear them as clearly as I hear you?' the detective thought and heard Pandora snicker in his head.<br>_'Interesting. Find a delusional person and ask,"_ the gem suggested, excited by the thought, and Shinichi shook his head.  
>'Pandora do you know what day it is?'<br>_'Thursday, and I heard that KID left a heist note last night after his fourth heist, so there's a heist tonight. We have to go, and after that we can meet him!'_  
>'Please tell me that you aren't always going to be like this.'<p>

'_Probably not, but I want you to get used to me speaking,'_ Pandora smiled and Shinichi ignored it as he got out of the bed to search the room for his own clothes; he couldn't run around in a hospital gown. _'I want you to try something now that we've established contact; close your eyes!'_

Shinichi closed his eyes and watched the hospital room appear in flickering red lines with a fluttering Pandora standing beside him. The world around him wasn't as clear as it had been before; it was like it was vibrating.  
>'Fantastic,' the detective thought and Pandora grinned.<br>"Okay, now move around in the room, and keep your eyes closed," the jewel demanded and Shinichi obeyed. It was strange to be able to see even though his eyes were closed. He opened a cupboard and frowned; it was completely dark. He opened his eyes and saw the shelves and his own clothes, which his mother had brought him when they visited the first time.

'_Yea, yea, there are limitations, I can't see through things like walls and windows since I like to utilise echolocation, it wasn't like I had eyes as a gem, but if you'd held your eyes closed a moment longer I would've supplied you with the insides too,'_ Pandora informed him, _'just imagine everything we could do if I could see through walls!'_ The detective got dressed as he listened.  
>'You're thinking of something perverted, aren't you?' Shinichi questioned as he walked over to the window and looked out; he was at the first floor and that was like asking him to sneak away.<br>_'Maybe,'_ Pandora grinned and Shinichi was certain that the gem was going to make him into a pervert. His mother had given him a hoodie so she'd probably understood that he would run; he was her son after all and the doctors probably wouldn't release him before they'd gone though everything and might even keep him over night, just to be on the safe side. Shinichi grinned as he opened the window and slipped out.  
><em>'You know, this is way too easy. They should upgrade the security.'<em>  
>'It's a hospital, not a prison.'<p>

* * *

><p>The bell rang at Ekoda High and a classroom exploded in glitter and ribbons. Kaito laughed as his startled classmates stared terrified at him and then watched how the mess seemed to disappear into nowhere.<br>"Kuroba, can we talk for a bit?" Hakuba asked for what felt like the hundredth time as he reached the laughing magician.  
>"No," the teenager answered quickly and began to run, but was stopped as Hakuba grabbed onto his arm.<br>"It's about Aoko," the detective whispered and Kaito frowned worriedly; Hakuba never spoke about their relationship and Kaito wasn't sure if he even wanted to know anything either.  
>"Okay, we'll speak," he said as they left the class. Hakuba nodded to Aoko, who winked back and left.<p>

"Okay, here's the thing," the Brit began as he closed the door to an empty classroom behind them and Kaito raised an eyebrow. "She's worried about you since you two don't really talk anymore. According to her, you've changed," he sighed heavily and leaned against a bench, "but then again, who wouldn't, considering what you actually do-"  
>"I knew it!" Kaito almost yelled, "this wasn't about Aoko in the first place! You just want to pin me as Kaitou KID!"<br>"No," Hakuba's hard voice cut through the already rehearsed and prepared denials that the thief had in store and effectively quieted them down, "I don't care anymore!" The magician stared confused at the detective.  
>"You don't care?" the thief mumbled confused, "what's wrong with you?"<p>

"This _is_ about Aoko," Hakuba continued and ignored the question, "I already know what you are doing, but she doesn't." Kaito began to protest again but Hakuba covered his mouth with one hand. "_I, don't, care_. I love Aoko and she would be hurt if she knew what you're doing even though KID is harmless. Now listen instead and I'll try to not make any references to KID. She thinks you're unhappy with our relationship," the detective didn't remove his hand and Kaito frowned; he wasn't 'unhappy with their relationship', per se. He was a bit uncomfortable, yes, but not unhappy, or was he?

Hakuba sighed and removed his hand as Kaito turned his attention back to the detective.  
>"You've been acting insane ever since school began again, ever since we told you about us."<br>"You mean more insane than usual?" Kaito grinned as a response while he tried to ignore the queasy feeling he got from listening to Hakuba talk about emotions. The detective only shook his head in exhaustion.  
>"The entire school is talking about you, everyone thought that you and Aoko were going to become a couple, and after Aoko and I got together <em>you<em> started acting strange. Here I'm talking about you acting so strange that the entire school noticed. If you were aware of your changes no one would've noticed because you would've hidden your feelings behind that clever poker face of yours," the detective muttered and tapped him on the forehead.  
>"Okay, what did I do that was so strange?" Kaito asked with a pout; he hadn't noticed anything.<p>

"You have prank-swings like normal people have mood swings, you might be on the lecture but instead of doing what you usually do; sitting around and smiling like an idiot, you've started to stare into the wall, the sky or the board with a serious face. Kuroba Kaito _does_ _not_ have a serious face unless something is really wrong and our chemistry teacher even stopped her lecture because you were staring at her the entire time. She practically ran for her life after she ended it. Aoko said that you haven't looked like that ever since you two talked about your father's death. I don't know what's going on with you, but Aoko thinks that your changed demeanour has been caused by us. And now it's like you are on a constant sugar high! What's wrong with you? Are you depressed? Have your brain gone completely haywire? Or is this because of us? Aoko is even considering breaking up with me to see if you would change."

Kaito observed the detective; he looked sincere, confused, worried and honest.  
>"That has nothing, <em>absolutely nothing<em> to do with you two. I'm worried about an old friend that might be in trouble, and that's it," the magician said with a bit too much force and felt a sting of envy in his chest. It wasn't exactly a lie; he was worried about Tantei-kun, but the child was completely safe with the FBI and the organisation was gone now. Kaito just hadn't gotten used to the fact that Hakuba and Aoko were together, and the Brit's constant prying into his life surely wasn't helping with his feelings.  
>"Are you alright?" the detective asked concerned and Kaito sighed; he knew that he was acting out of character as he let the poker face drop, but the detective obviously needed the truth to save their relationship and Kaito would <em>not<em> be the one to destroy Aoko's happiness, not twice in a row.  
>"Yes, and no. I'm fine, you don't have to worry," he could see that Hakuba didn't believe him. "Do you want to know the truth?" the thief asked and saw how surprise flashed in the Brit's eyes.<p>

"I-," Kaito shook his head and didn't even try to hide his annoyance, "it's like the entire world is living in their impeccable little bubble, with pretty little fairytales covered in colourful rainbows. But I'm not in that bubble," the magician frowned as a thought hit him, "the bubble now looks like a train for some reason."

Kaito shrugged and continued to ease his heart, "I live outside it, in the darkness. Sometimes I can see into that train and feel like I'm almost back in it, but lately that train has picked up its pace. I chase it but it's fast, sometimes I get really close to it and it feels like I just need someone's help, someone to open the doors so that I can get in." The magician bit his lip, "you probably wonder why I'm acting strange even when I'm around you two," Hakuba nodded encouraging, struck by the sincerity in the normally goofy teenager. "I'm jealous, terribly jealous of you two, jealous of _everyone_. I want what you have, what I can never get until I'm finished with what I must finish. I can never be loved, not until I stop. It's like there's no middle ground, either they're a crazy fan or they hate me for all they're worth. In the beginning of school I was terribly worried about the friend, later I became extremely frustrated with another person that I couldn't find. And this state of 'sugar high' is the only thing that I have left to keep myself busy. I need it to function properly," Hakuba frowned knowing that Kaito had begun talking about the resent Kaitou KID-heists. "I'm sad, I'm lonely, I'm jealous; that's your answer. Tell her that, and try to make Aoko happy, she deserves it."

"It's dangerous, can't you stop being KID?" Kaito began to protest but Hakuba covered his mouth again.  
>"Okay, sorry. Let's just say that whenever I'm talking about KID, you answer 'no' but you don't need to voice it." Kaito's eyes glowed with anger and the detective understood that there was no way that he'd get any more information out of the thief. "Okay, let's do it this way," Hakuba removed his hand and received a glare, "why do you think Kaitou KID steals?"<p>

"Who knows," the magician muttered annoyed and walked over to the door.  
>"Wait!" the Brit called out and Kaito stopped, not bothering to turn around to look at him. "Thank you, thank you for being honest with me, you have no idea how much I appreciate it." The magician shrugged and left.<p>

* * *

><p>"Saguru!" Aoko called from behind the gates, "why are you two so slow?" Hakuba threw a glance at the magician; he was smiling brightly and didn't seem to have a problem in the world. The detective now knew the reason for Kuroba's behaviour, but he didn't have time to think about it at the moment even if he wanted to. He needed more information from the thief and Kuroba hadn't answered his favourite question; Why did you do it? Or in Kuroba's case; Why do you do it? Or why did you begin?<p>

They reached the gates and he apologised that she'd had to wait. Kaito glanced around, suddenly feeling watched and his eyes met with a pair of familiar, dark blue ones. The gaze was observant and piercing, like it could see through anything. He mentally frowned; a woman in jeans and brown boots, with a white blouse and a blue jacket leaned against the wall of Ekoda High School. She had long silky black hair, reaching down below her shoulders and a mask over her face.  
>'Hello Imposter-san,' the thief cackled inside his head once he noticed the end of a scab peeking out from underneath the facemask, 'not a master of disguises I see, but not bad.' Kaito wanted to smile, walk up to her and greet her since the scab on her jaw was exactly where the bullet had nicked Imposter-san.<p>

The sense of familiarity became stronger as the woman pushed off the wall and came towards them. She moved gracefully and proud, yet warily, like she expected to be attacked at any moment. There was no doubt about it; that was Imposter-san. Where had the stupid detective been? How dare he not come out when called?

"Excuse me, are you Hakuba Saguru-san?" the distinct female voice was lean and demanding, like she expected to be obeyed or knew that she would.  
>"Yes, that's me," the British detective answered as soon as he'd turned around and the woman smiled at him; she looked like a dangerous predator.<br>"My name is Fujimine Mizuki," Imposter-san bowed to Hakuba and then confidently met his eyes, "may I have a word with you?" It wasn't a question even if it was phrased like one; it was a demand, and it was clearly that it disturbed the blonde.  
>"I'm sorry, I don't have time right now-."<br>"It concerns Kaitou KID," the woman interrupted him.  
>"Then speak with Nakamori-keibu," he retorted annoyed; there was something about the woman that gave him the creeps. It must have been her eyes, they made him freeze in place.<br>"Maybe, you see," Mizuki said and pulled out a white card, "I received this from him." Kaito was immediately forced to concentrate on his poker face as he squealed in his head; that was his card.

Hakuba took the card from the woman and threw a glance at the magician as he read it.  
>"It's a pleasure to meet you!" Kaito beamed as he took Mizuki's hand and kissed it. Kaito smiled delighted as the detective pulled away the hand from him and giggled lightly; he was very good at playing woman and the blush was very convincing.<p>

"I see, so you are the Challenger-san that Kaitou KID has been talking about," Hakuba sighed and focused on the woman before him; she was beautiful and could probably seduce any man to do her bidding. Had Kuroba been seduced by her, or in this case Kaitou KID?  
>"Apparently, and I'm sorry that I didn't show up sooner. I was at the hospital, but I'm perfectly fine now. I was wondering if you-," Imposter-san was interrupted by the mobile calling and picked it up. "I'm so sorry I have to take this really quickly," she bowed to them and answered the phone.<p>

"Where the hell are you? Your parents called from the hospital, telling me that you escaped!" the phone roared loudly and the woman gasped.  
>"Oi, Megure-keibu, are you trying to damage my ears?" they heard her ask as she walked a small distance, only long enough for them not to hear the conversation.<br>"Oh my, she escaped from the hospital to try and get to the heist," the Brit sighed as he massaged his temples and gave the magician a glance. "There really is no middle ground, is there?"

* * *

><p>The thief smiled as he watched the group leave to go to the heist; Kaito needed to get his things and only excused himself with wanting to leave the satchel at home. It was funny how well the detectives got along even if Hakuba tensed every time Imposter-san looked at him; the blonde probably felt that something was wrong with 'her' even if he couldn't figure out what.<p>

* * *

><p>AN: I'm trying to make a front page for this story... And if I ever succeed; you will see the letters that's in the books. Strangely it only took me about an hour to learn to write on it fluently so now I finally have a way to sit it public and write stories that people can't just look over my shoulder and read, now I'm just going to look like a complete nut-job writing in code :D

"The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience."  
>~Eleanor Roosevelt<p> 


	32. Testing New Grounds

A/N: Sorry about updating late, I'm pissed off since I used a USB-stick in order to write the chapter, but one of the computers decided that the files on the USB-stick were corrupt (I guess that they could've accepted a bribe from the other computer) and then deleted the files… So I was forced to rewrite the chapter, and the only problem is that the chapter became worse than the first. I hate rewriting chapters without a model to look at since I tend to forget what I originally wrote.

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

Uploaded: 2012-06-13  
>Revised: 2014-09-16<br>Chapter rating: K+  
>Words: 3,400<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Chap. 32<br>Testing New Grounds**

Shinichi looked around the museum room and sighed. Megure had yelled at him for running away from the hospital even though his parents hadn't really cared. The inspector probably thought that someone should teach him some manners since his parents apparently were incapable of doing so and Shinichi had been forced to promise that he would come willingly when Megure drove him back. Yukiko had sent him a message on his mobile saying that they were waiting at home eating all of the cakes; evidently they were more interested in his newly found interest in baking than in his old habit of escaping the hospital, probably because they knew that if he could escape he was okay.

The detective had gotten in since he was in the company of Hakuba and Aoko, but he knew what was waiting him; a pinch on the cheek as soon as the Brit showed up with Nakamori, but he didn't want that. Shinichi feared that the inspector might remove his facemask.

The detective was yelled at, then pinched and then yelled at some more.  
><em>'Come on, yell back! Show that inspector that we won't back down!'<em> Pandora was just as enraged as he was; all of the times Nakamori had yelled at him as Conan and he'd been forced to stay quiet since he was a child came back and Shinichi agreed with the gem.

Kaito gaped when what seemed to be a swearing and shouting contest began between Imposter-san and Nakamori, but he had no need to hide his surprise since all of the real taskforce members were just as shocked by the complete stranger's outburst. The thief stared in fascination when it seemed like the detective would win, but then somehow lost and was almost thrown out from the heist.

Nakamori growled lowly as he left to speak with the owner and Shinichi gritted his teeth in irritation; his head hurt and now even his throat and ears did. Pandora's plan of yelling had its side effects. _'Okay, moving on to something more fun.'  
><em>'You're annoying Pandora,' Shinichi muttered in his head and the gem snorted at him.  
><em>'Let's play a game.'<br>_'No-,'  
><em>'I spy something usually white but now in disguise!'<em> the voice in his head stated and Shinichi's mood lightened.  
>'So you found him, don't tell me, I want to find him on my own.' The detective looked around the room; where would he be if he was a thief knowing that his Challenger-san was here? Shinichi let his gaze travel over every member, studying them, watching their every movement.<p>

* * *

><p>There. One member who was talking with two others, the man was usually quiet during the heists, nervous. He was the newest addition to the taskforce, but that was a while ago so he could have gotten comfortable.<br>_'Congratulations, you got him. I'm almost impressed,'_  
>'Almost, you're not very nice.'<br>'_You called me annoying,'_ Shinichi sighed at the jewel and went on to study the surroundings, trying to figure out what kind of trick the thief was going to use.

The room was circular with the diamond of interest displayed in the middle; no big precautions had been taken since the heist had been announced during the last night. The only thing that would happen was that the two arched openings which served as doors were going to be sealed with iron bars when the clock struck ten. Other museum exhibits were displayed by the walls, but they were of no importance to Shinichi since KID wasn't after them. The windows were already secured with metal bars, while the roof in the middle was a dome of glass, allowing them to see the starlit night. He stared at the glass ceiling; one of the glass panes seemed to be missing and Shinichi smiled. If he assumed that KID had redirected the crane from the construction site on top of the next building he'd be able to use his grappling hook to get out as long as the glass pane was removed.

The detective bit his lip and threw a glance at his watch; one hour left. He silently studied the taskforce for a while and smiled as an idea formed in his head. Should he try to pickpocket KID? He doubted that he could do it perfectly so he needed to distract him.

Shinichi turned away from the thief; this was all or nothing and he could feel Pandora's excited suspense as he ran through the memory of the man who taught him how to pick pockets one time. He was careful not to move around so he wouldn't damage his injured shoulder or even open the wound.

* * *

><p>"Hello, who are you?" Kudou Shinichi, five years old, asked interested as he found a somewhat familiar stranger in the kitchen. The man smiled at him; he seemed nice with his alert eyes and thin moustache, like someone who liked to play games.<br>"Well, hello there, you must be Shinichi-kun," the man said with a smile and Shinichi raised an eyebrow; usually when he asked who someone was they said their name.  
>"Yes, I'm Shinichi, what's your name?" the young boy elaborated.<br>"Not easily distracted, are you?" Shinichi shook his head at the man's question.  
>"My name is Kuroba Toichi, I used to teach your mother how to disguise," the man stated with gleaming eyes and made a rose appear out of nowhere.<br>"Oh, you're the magician that we saw yesterday!" Shinichi grinned as he remembered from where he recognised the man and Toichi chuckled fondly.

"Possibly, and very likely," the magician began as he sat down on the floor with his legs crossed, "you know, I have a son at the same age as you. He loves magic, and you remind me of him. Do you want to learn a trick?"  
>"No, thank you," Shinichi stated to Toichi's surprise and walked up to the man. "Can you show me one and I'll figure out how you do it?" he counter proposed and the man's smile widened as he repeated the trick with the rose.<br>"You have it in your sleeve," the boy stated confidently and Toichi nodded. They played a game of guess for a while and the magician did a little more advanced trick, causing the boy to scratch his head while glaring at the man as he repeated the trick.  
>"You have two coins?" the boy asked cautiously and the man shook his head.<p>

"If you'll let me to teach you a trick, and give me your word that you'll train until you've perfected it, I'll tell you how I did it." Shinichi bit his lip; he really wanted to know how the trick was done, but he also wanted to understand it without someone else's help.  
>"Can I think about it for a while?" he asked and Toichi nodded.<br>"You have until after lunch," the man stated with a smug smile and Shinichi went to the backyard to think. The hour passed, lunch came and went, and Shinichi was forced to admit defeat.

"Okay," the man said as Yukiko went to do the dishes, "I'm going to teach you something useful, a trick that your father also knows and has used a few times." Shinichi's eyes widened; his father knew magic? "It can come in handy," the man stated with a mischievous grin.

Even if Toichi didn't tell him straight out what they were training Shinichi soon enough understood. "I'm going to become a detective!" he complained loudly as he realised that the magician was teaching him how to pick pockets, "I don't want to learn how to steal!" Toichi laughed amused as the boy pouted, looking just as adorable as Kaito when he couldn't have candy.  
>"Let me present my case," the magician smiled and Shinichi glared but stayed quiet. "You're going to be a detective, and when you become older you'll go to a place where they keep money, a bank. Thieves that try to rob banks usually use a gun. Now, what would happen if you saw a person with a gun in a bank but was unable to do anything about it?"<br>"The bank gets robbed," Shinichi said with a scowl.  
>"What would happen if you could pick the man's pocket before anything had time to happen?"<br>"The bank would not get robbed," the boy frowned thoughtfully, "okay, I understand. Teach me how to steal." Toichi grinned as he taught the boy the basics and made him promise to train. He would come back and teach him again after a day or two.

* * *

><p>Shinichi sighed; he didn't know what the magician had been thinking teaching a child to become a thief. Toichi hadn't taught it to him once or twice either, he'd been teaching him for over half a year, five to ten minutes each time and he became pretty good at it too. Toichi had sent him to steal a pen from Yuusaku and he completed the task perfectly, even though his father later had realised in amusement what had happened and who had taught him. Shinichi hadn't actually utilised the skill in a very long time.<p>

Kaito was sweating nervously; Imposter-san was one creepy detective. He'd been stranding completely still for over ten minutes and the only sign of life was his moving chest or his flickering eyes. The thief had to be careful so that he didn't bite off more that he could chew since he didn't know what the detective could come up with. After fifteen minutes of pretending to be a statue Imposter-san suddenly came to life, causing some of the taskforce members to startle.

The detective walked up to the disguised thief when enough time had gone by and gripped into his shoulder. KID tensed, but so would any taskforce member that was grabbed.  
>"Hey, we need to talk," Shinichi whispered as the thief turned towards him. The cross-dressing teenager forced KID to walk with him by holding into his shoulder and as soon as they had walked a few steps away from the others Shinichi turned the thief towards himself.<br>"I think I know," the detective leaned in close, holding harder into KID and took the first gun-like gadget he found; if he didn't manage to get the grappling hook he could always taunt him with something else, "how KID is planning to escape, so I need you to go and check." The thief relaxed ever so slightly and nodded. "I think he's going to use the grappling hook to get out through the ceiling, can you go and check if the panes are closed? Or close it if one is open?" KID nodded and ran away. As soon as the thief was out of the room Shinichi took a deep breath and glanced down to the gun that he had hidden underneath his crossed arms; lucky day, it was the grappling hook and not the card gun, but he doubted that he would ever be able to do that ever again now that the thief knew what he could do.

* * *

><p>The taskforce member that he'd sent away never showed up before the lights went out and a laugh was heard together with the scraping of metal as the doors sealed themselves.<br>"Challenger-san! It's great that you finally made it!" the voice of Kaitou KID echoed through the room and the lights flickered on.  
>"KID! This time I'll get you!" Nakamori roared and pointed to the thief that was perched on top of the display case with the diamond in hand, and Shinichi silently wondered if the inspector ever got tired of saying that.<br>"Good evening, Nakamori-keibu," the thief beamed happily and Shinichi backed so he had the wall against his back; the thief might actually remove his disguise, and that would be bad since it would cause the media to go absolutely fanatic. Kudou Shinichi: vanished, undercover, BO-takedown, BO-daughter organisation takedown, and then showing up cross-dressing at a Kaitou KID heist. That would be like taking a bath with a bleeding wound in a tank with starving sharks; they would tear him apart in a second, especially since he would be forced to keep the years 'undercover' secret.

The taskforce members dove for the thief, which easily avoided them and covered them in pink dust and green feathers. KID laughed as Hakuba tried to jump him from behind and Shinichi pulled out his handcuffs, suddenly realising that he no longer had an actual way to fight the thief or provide him with a challenge. He couldn't kick anything since everything in the room was immovable display cases, there wasn't even a wastebasket. He didn't have his ball belt, or his watch, or any of the studs, leaving him with only the cuffs; he needed to get Agasa to make him adult versions of the gadgets, which would come in handy even if he wasn't at a heist since no criminal would consider a watch dangerous.

The newly returned detective started circling the thief as Hakuba ended up in a long golden dress and make up. KID glanced towards Shinichi with a smile as the taskforce made another jump for him, but this time they seemed to be caught by an invisible force and became suspended in the air.  
>"Good evening, Challenger-san," KID smirked and followed the detective in a circle as he ignored Nakamori's angry roaring, "I recognised you from the moment you stepped inside this building, and you never seem to disappoint." The thief eyed his clothes in amusement. "Definitely not a master, but still very good for a detective."<br>"I aim to please," Shinichi stated with a small ironic bow, wary of what the thief might do to him, and earned a grin. KID made a run for him and Shinichi grabbed harder into the cuffs. Smoke covered his sight and he narrowly avoided the arm which passed by his facemask. Shinichi panicked slightly as he understood that the thief would unmask him.  
><em>'Run?'<em> the voice in his head asked uncertain; the jewel would love the media storm which came if the thief exposed them, but Pandora was still interested in keeping peace with the main owner of the body.

By concentrating, Shinichi managed to avoid the thief's tries at getting him, while at the same time trying to cuff him. KID was laughing and seemed to dodge him way too easily, and the detective scowled; how come he was _that_ bad? However, KID seemed to have a great time so Shinichi didn't really mind and only focused on dodging.

Hakuba ignored the wild dance between the woman and the thief as he tried to get the high heels off of his feet, which was both glued to his foot and tied around his ankle with a complicated knot. He grumbled quietly to himself and his complaining was drowned in the shouting from Nakamori as he struggled against the lines restraining him in the air. A few members had stopped their escape attempts in order to watch the display of colourful explosions, glitter and smoke. The Brit glanced up as he got the first shoe off and saw how the woman cuffed one of KID's wrists, only for the thief to immediately escape and continue like he'd never been chained. The woman had her shoulder dyed in pink, covered by purple glitter, while half of the hair ends had been turned orange.

Kaito was enjoying himself greatly until the lines keeping the taskforce captured broke and he understood that he needed to end it for tonight, but by the challenging gleam in Imposter-san's eyes, he would most likely show up the next time and that was what tonight was all about. The thief took out one red egg and threw it towards the taskforce and it glued most of them together as it exploded.

Shinichi grinned as KID placed himself underneath the open pane.  
>"Regrettably, I need to leave now," the thief stated with a grin and dropped a smoke bomb just as Hakuba threw the other shoe at him with a scowl. Hakuba stood up as the smoke cleared showing a confused KID patting his pockets. The thief snapped his fingers and the iron bars covering the doors were blown opened.<p>

"Missing something?" Shinichi asked loudly in a feminine voice as KID was about to run and leaned the gun on his shoulder.  
>"You pickpocketed me?" KID asked unbelieving as he eyed the gun.<br>"Who? Me? I would never!" the detective stated theatrically and KID shook his head as an evil grin spread; the thief would definitely unmask him now, maybe he should have thought ahead.  
>"Oi, Hakuba! Catch!" Shinichi said and threw the gun to the Brit who caught it in reflex. For a second everything was still as everyone stared from the detective to the thief. Pandora was laughing wildly as Shinichi watched the detective in the golden dress run away from KID.<p>

Kaito wanted to punish Imposter-san for stealing from him but he needed to get the gun from Hakuba; his fingerprints were on it and the detective would be forced to hand it over to Nakamori if he didn't get it back, and with the recent police interrogations it wouldn't look good.

* * *

><p>Kaito pouted as he ran through the building; Imposter-san had vanished without a trace after he had left the heist room to chase the Brit, and if Hakuba hadn't fled Kaito wouldn't have glued him to the ceiling with an extra amount of glue. The thief ran up the stairs and as he exited on the roof his eyes widened in surprise. Imposter-san was standing there, by the edge of the roof looking at the stars. The long hair was slowly moving with the wind and he had his hands in his pockets, just like Tantei-kun used to.<br>"It's a fine night, don't you think?" Imposter-san's male voice asked a bit distant.  
>"Beautiful, yes. Are you not cold?" Kaito wondered warily and the other shrugged.<br>"No, it feels good," he stated and then chuckled quietly to himself as Kaito slowly sneaked closer, "I was afraid that you would unmask me in front of the others, someone might have recognised me."

Kaito hummed and then smirked, "no, I wouldn't. I'm a gentleman. So are you going to tell me who you are?"  
>"Oh? You don't know?" Imposter-san asked baffled and turned around, he was still wearing the facemask.<br>"I have a pretty good idea," the thief declared amused, "and if I'm correct, then we'll meet again, very soon." The detective frowned and hummed thoughtfully.

"Are you talking about later tonight or tomorrow? Because tomorrow I'll be at the live broadcasted press conference at the police station, lying though my teeth," Imposter-san informed and Kaito laughed as the detective continued with a slightly altered voice, "no, I was not at the heist, and the one who blinded everyone was not Kaitou KID, it was the magician I hired for the job. No you cannot know his name since he wishes to remain anonymous." The detective sighed. "I don't want to deal with the media-crap-storm if I got out that I was 'the magician I hired' since people will complain about the blinding light and then continue to ask if you were the one who taught me since we apparently have a sexual relationship. It's going to be great," he said sarcastically.  
>"Then I'll be watching," the thief grinned and Imposter-san nodded.<p>

"I need to get back to the hospital so that Megure-keibu can yell at me some more," the detective smirked and walked past him, "I'll see you tomorrow or the day after that." Kaito hid his surprise by the little to no reluctance from the detective and the invite to speak.  
>"You're not going to take the diamond from me?"<br>"No, I'm already late. I'll see you later." Imposter-san waved as he closed the door, and Kaito couldn't help but to frown; the detective had that strange expression in his eyes again, like he knew something that Kaito didn't, and it was driving the thief mad with curiosity.

The thief grinned as he stared at the closed door; the detective was weird, but everything had gone well. Meitantei-san would show up at his next heist and he'd even gotten an invitation to speak, or in Kaito's case, interrogate him. The thief watched through his binoculars how 'the woman' exited the building with the reporters flashing their cameras at the detective. Imposter-san blew a kiss towards them and then walked up to Megure who opened the door for him.


	33. The Return of the East

A/N:

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

_'Pandora speaking'  
><em>'general thinking'  
>"talking"<p>

Uploaded: 2012-06-18  
>Revised: 2014-09-16<br>Chapter rating: T  
>Words: 2,500<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Chap. 33<br>The Return of the East**

Megure immediately recognised Shinichi when he entered the police station in a light disguise, followed by his mother, and the inspector brought them to a meeting room beside the room where the conference would be held. The detective eyed his surroundings as Yukiko made sure that the fake skin covered the scab on his face and he listened to Megure walk him through the information they would give and the distraction he would make sure that he caused.

Inside the room there was a board, left from the previous meeting, which had an interesting note in a plastic bag, and Shinichi frowned; he recognised the way the letters were written.  
>"Megure-keibu, what happened?" the newly returned detective asked and nodded towards the board.<br>"Oh, that," the inspector grumbled after seeing where Shinichi was looking, "a double homicide inside an office just over one and a half a month ago. The man sitting in the chair behind the desk was shot between his eyes with a small calibre handgun while the other on the floor was drowned in a bucket of alcohol. They haven't a single connection to each other, and yet they were murdered in the same office." The detective walked up to the board and stared at the note. "No one saw or heard anything, and it remains unsolved even though the culprit, or culprits, left a lot of strange messages at the scene-."

"It was most likely one culprit," Shinichi stated and studied the face of the man who had been shot, "her name is Vermouth, and the people she killed are Anokata and Bourbon. That's why she left the empty bottles of bourbon beside the body of the drowned man."

"Oh? How do you know?" Megure sounded shocked, "what does the rest mean?" Shinichi turned his gaze to the note that had been nailed to the wall with four sharp and exquisitely handcrafted silver bullets and read it.

"_Hello, Cool Guy.  
>This was my heart's desire. To rid the world of these two. <em>

_There is something I've been wondering about you. Something that interests me. A question to which you've seen many different answers. _

_How far are you willing to go in the matters of your heart?_

_XXX  
>~V."<em>

"I don't know what the note means even though it's addressed to me; Cool Guy, that's what she called me. She likes riddles, so I'm guessing that we won't find out what it means until she shows up and explains it," Shinichi continued and then added, "or it means that she's going to kill someone I love, just to see a reaction."  
>"Do you know this woman?" the inspector asked and nodded to a man who opened the door to tell them that the conference was about to start.<br>"I wouldn't say 'know'. We've exchanged words and she was the one who gave me the information on the Black Organisation, but now I understand why she left out three names."  
>"Can you help us catch her?"<br>"I'm sorry keibu. If I find her I'll try, but I doubt that I will. She's like a ghost, and we've fought against each other multiple times where she won all of them," Shinichi shook his head and walked up to Megure, who stood by the door that led to the conference room.

Chikage sent her son an amused glance when she sat down in the armchair in the living room; Kaito was sitting on the couch with his leg bouncing as he watched TV. He was certain that his new detective, Meitantei-san, was Yukiko-chan's boy, even though he'd been away for quite some time. Chikage missed the friendship with the woman, who was just as eccentric as herself. It had been dissolved for something Toichi couldn't say, but apparently they would jeopardise Shin-chan's life if they continued their friendship, and Chikage wasn't prepared to do that.  
>"Now!" Kaito called out, startling his mother and tore her out of her musings, "it's starting!"<p>

Shinichi swallowed and checked the fake skin in a small handheld mirror before he nodded to Megure; he was pleased that no one could tell that he had a scab. The inspector walked out and held the door open for him. He was met with a sea of flashes as he exited the room and he smiled calmly. It was strange how relaxing the reporters were when a single article about Conan had made him jumpy and sweat in terror that the Black Organisation would find him, but now that they were gone he had nothing to fear. Shinichi smiled his charming 'media-smile' and the reporters fired off question after question, which were left unanswered.

"I told you! It's him!" Kaito grinned and pointed to the TV when Megure quieted down the press and introduced the detective. The inspector then proceeded to inform everyone about the staged heist, the reasons behind it and the police's involvement. Kaito saw that, just like himself, the reporters were more interested in the long missing Detective of the East than the murders, extortions and the not-entirely-legal heist.

* * *

><p>".-And if you have any more questions, Kudou Shinichi here will answer them," Megure stated and stepped away from the podium to allow Shinichi to take the entire spot light. The questions came like a wildfire and Shinichi served his purpose of drawing their attention away from the less legal parts of the heist.<br>"One at the time!" he called out and a question was heard over the others.

"Is the rumour that Kaitou KID participated in the takedown true?"  
>"Yes, Kaitou KID caught both White Horse and Snake," Shinichi answered steadily.<p>

"How did you get in contact with Kaitou KID?"  
>"Do you know his name?"<br>"Are you and Kaitou KID in a relationship?"

Shinichi sighed and reached into his pool of patience; he knew that the relationship-questions would show up sooner or later, but he'd thought that they would come later.  
>"I don't know Kaitou KID personally and don't have any kind of affiliation to him. The hired magician was the one who met him."<p>

"Who was the magician?"  
>"What did you do during the takedown?"<p>

Shinichi heard a flood of other questions but was unable to distinguish them from each other.  
>"The magician wishes to remain out of the conversation, and it was he who staged the heist's magic tricks to look like Kaitou KID's. I was supervising the takedown and brought in the leader of the Daughter Organisation, Whisky."<p>

"What did you do undercover for the FBI?" the reporters quieted down as they waited for the answer.

"I gathered intel about members, hid ex-members who wished to help us, and helped organise operations to protect agents," Shinichi answered avoiding, "and I won't go into details about that takedown."

"You've been gone for over two years, how are you going to manage school?"  
>"Will you try your luck on catching Kaitou KID?"<br>"Who is Irene Singer?"

"About school; I've had a few months when I researched the DO where I did school work on the side, so I will continue to help the police if I'm required, but not as much as before. And luck, I only have the bad kind," Shinichi smirked, "you could say that I'm cursed."  
>'<em>Nice, that was one below the belt. I'll get back at you when you're sleeping,'<em> Pandora laughed in amusement at his remark.  
>"I'm considering taking on the challenge of Kaitou KID, which was offered to the impostor. And who Irene Singer is, is none of your business."<p>

"How did you get time to convince Kaitou KID to join in on the takedown?"

"I knew that there was no way Kaitou KID wouldn't show up when I decided to use his name. I used his name because he and the DO have been in a kind of competition, where the organisation aimed to kill him, and I knew that they would be there if Kaitou KID sent out a heist note for a special gem, which was their goal. They couldn't let him have it. I don't know why Kaitou KID competed against them, but he didn't need convincing, he joined in once the situation had been explained."

* * *

><p>Kaito grinned when the press conference was nearing its end and the detective was forced to answer stupid questions about Kaitou KID and himself, it seemed like the lies and deception of the police was less interesting than Meitantei-san's personal life.<br>"Mom, note that he hasn't actually lied, unless referring to himself in third person, like Aoko does, is considered lying," Kaito laughed and Chikage nodded.

"He seems to be just at slippery as you are," she smiled as the magician jumped up from the couch and ran upstairs; he had a detective to meet.

* * *

><p>Kaito sat in a tree in the backyard, chuckling as he watched the detective being tormented through his binoculars. His father was leaning against a bookshelf in the library, trying, and failing, to hold himself from laughing at Meitantei-san, who was tied to a chair as his mother hovered over him, giggling. The thief couldn't see what she was doing to him since he had his back towards the window, but by the look of his father it must be hilarious.<p>

He waited until the woman ran out from the library and watched how Yuusaku shook his head as he answered on a question by the detective and then left the room. Kaito immediately jumped down from the tree and opened the window.

"Wonderful," Shinichi muttered when the lights flickered off and then slightly turned his head, "I hoped you would come tomorrow, _after_ they'd left. I was going to sit by the desk and work, and when you entered through that window I would say, 'KID, I've been expecting you.' and then look up." Kaito snickered amused at the thought.  
>"Ooh, like in a movie? You invited me here, why?" the thief asked as he walked up to the restrained detective.<br>"I invited you here because I knew that you would show up here anyway." Kaito grinned when he saw what Shinichi looked like. He had a well-defined chest filling out a blue dress, matching his eyes, red lips and marked eyes.

"If you wonder why I look like this; it's because, going with my mother's insanity today will make them leave tomorrow, not that I don't love them, but when I owe them something this _always_ happens," Shinichi muttered with a deadpanned expression and the thief smirked; the detective seemed to be well tied up, so he could have some fun.  
>"Mom, went go get a wig, so she'll be back in a while," KID hummed at the statement as he sat down on the chair which Yukiko had used and was suddenly holding a makeup-set.<p>

"That-better-not-be-that-thing-which-won't-go-away-for-days," Shinichi said hurriedly and turned his head away, but the thief only grinned.  
>"No, stop it. Bad Kaitou! Bad Kaitou!" the detective groaned once KID grabbed into his chin to hold his head steady so that he would be able to apply his own makeup.<p>

"Don't worry," KID grinned at the glaring detective, and flicked his hand in front of his lips. Shinichi stared in shock; the thief was wearing dark red lipstick, darker than the detective had. Shinichi stared at him in disbelief before he managed to take in the picture of the thief in lipstick and chuckled quietly as KID removed the colour.

The thief grabbed into his chin again and continued to apply his makeup under the glare from Shinichi, but before the detective had realised he had both wig and more makeup, and the thief seemed quite pleased with his work.  
>"Wow, look what a cutie," KID beamed while smirking his smug grin.<br>"I'm _not_ cute," Shinichi muttered.  
>"Come on, now pout, be a cute little Ojou-san."<br>"I will _never_,"

'_Seduce him! It doesn't matter what you do, he'll only think that you're 'In character'!'  
><em>'Why does everyone keep telling me what to do?' Shinichi though and closed his eyes with a sigh, but still obeyed; Pandora was the reason he was alive after all, so he might as well indulge the gem.

The detective stared up at KID with a seductive gaze and smiled invitingly; he would certainly not mind if the thief kissed him. KID's smirk morphed into a grin at his actions.  
>"Now, that's a cutie becoming a beauty," the thief caressed his cheek and Shinichi was happy that the makeup covered his blush, "tell me, was it you who wrote the fake heist note?"<br>"Maybe, why?" Shinichi whispered and kept up the act of a teasing woman.  
>"What do you know about Pandora?" KID's eyes narrowed dangerously and Shinichi smirked; the less information he gave out, the more interesting he would be to the thief.<br>"I know a lot of things."  
>"You have to realise that you're actually tied up, so don't tease me. I might not be a be able to handle myself around such a beauty," Shinichi's eyes widened in shock as the thief gently grabbed into his cheek and tilted his head up, "tell me what you know about Pandora, <em>please<em>." KID bent closer to him with his eyes locked onto Shinichi's lips and the detective blinked confused; there was no way that the thief would actually kiss him. Shinichi closed his eyes; he could tell that it was Kaito underneath the disguise and he didn't trust his pupils not to dilate and convey his true feelings, but closing his eyes made it worse. He could feel the thief's hot breath on his face, sending shivering sparks through his body, and the mixture of scents that could only belong to the thief caused his head to end up in a haze.

"Come on, _Meitantei-san_," the thief whispered cajoling in his ear, "it's just a jewel, you can tell me."  
>"What's wrong with you?" Shinichi hissed and turned his head away. There was no answer and the heat from the thief's hand was gone, even his scent was getting weaker.<p>

"Oh my! Shin-chan!" Yukiko squeaked in delight and Shinichi opened his eyes; the thief was gone and his mother was standing in the doorway to the library, "you're gorgeous!" The woman grinned as she walked up to her pouting son, holding a blonde wig. "Let me guess; Kaitou KID," she smirked as she bent closer, "he really does a great job." Shinichi rolled his eyes in annoyance and sighed; he was going to speak with the professor about new gadgets, and then give KID a run for his money.

Kaito sighed outside the window; the detective seemed to have a problem with people invading his personal space, so that might be the only way to get him to talk since he obviously had a high threshold for pain, not that Kaito would actually torture him, but if Kudou-chan hadn't come back he could probably have gotten a little piece of information out him considering that he looked ready to crack. How far would he need to go in order to get the detective to speak? Use the restraints on the bed to tie him up and pretend that he would violate him? The thought left a bad taste in the thief's mouth and Kaito sighed; getting information out of him would probably be much, _much_ harder than he'd previously thought. He needed to study the detective for a while, get to know his enemy. Kaito smirked amused as he made his way home; Meitantei-san obviously needed a good stalking.


	34. Homecoming

A/N: Sorry I'm late... Again...

Excuses:  
>*Too long chapter<br>*Insane midsummer celebrations (Three days of socialising, never sleeping. I feel like I'm done for the year)  
>*Other stories, which are disturbing by brain (Mostly one, AU-story, which Brain-san is building an entire world to, I could draw a map!)<p>

*New timeline  
>I've been working on a new timeline for the story since the one I had was from Chap.9 to Chap.28, so I've just been winging it up until now. I realised that the first timeline was much neater compared to the new one and I'm not entirely sure what ideas I'm going to throw away and what to keep, since it's entirely messed up, and ideas have become jumbled...<p>

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

_'Pandora speaking'  
><em>'general thinking'  
>"talking"<p>

Uploaded: 2012-06-24  
>Revised: 2014-09-16<br>Chapter rating: K+  
>Words: 4,300<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Chap.34<br>Homecoming**

The detective clicked his tongue in annoyance when he threw a glance over his shoulder; he'd been followed by reporters all day, not that he'd expected anything else, but it seemed that they had some survival instincts in them given that they kept their distance as long as he glared at them the kind of glare that chilled people to the bone.

Shinichi had set his alarm early that Sunday and went to the station where he'd decided to 'help' the police with notifying the families about the murders. He had grabbed a seemingly random area to inform; Ekoda, after he'd taken a glance at what KID had done to White Horse. The mug shot photo of him showed a sulking man with pink and green moustache, cut in two different lengths. He also had lipstick, eye-shadow, cat ears, one tattooed pink eyebrow while the other was green, and a white KID-doodle over his left cheek. He didn't look particularly happy about that.

Shinichi had received a shock when Satou told him what Snake had yelled before he fainted and wondered what she'd done about it. Apparently she and Takagi had paid a visit to the thief where he'd told an interesting story of where he'd made a bet with a friend to catch Kaitou KID, but when he met the thief on the roof KID had told him the story of his father's death, which had made him a Kaitou KID supporter. The detective had smiled at the story; it was a perfect lie without any holes in it.

He gave the single file he had left a sad glance; Kuroba Toichi. The people he'd informed had been both shocked and saddened by the news of their family member's faulty established accidents, but at the same time fascinated that the famous 'Detective of the East' was doing that kind of work.

Shinichi took a deep breath and knocked on the door.  
>"Kuroba Chikage?" he asked when the woman from the old photo in the police's archive opened and Chikage nodded; she looked tense, but Shinichi assumed that it was because of her past as a phantom thief and her son's current night activity when a recognised detective stood on her porch. "My name is Kudou Shinichi. I have some information regarding your late husband Kuroba Toichi's death." The woman nodded and stepped aside to let him enter.<p>

"This concerns your son too, is he at home?" Shinichi wondered when he entered; he would pretend that he hadn't heard the lie Kaito had told, and the woman sighed.  
>"No, I'm sorry. He's out with a friend," Chikage answered and Pandora sighed in disappointment while Shinichi smiled calmly.<br>"Then, maybe you can inform him later?"  
>"Yes, of course," Chikage smiled, "would you like some coffee or tea?" The woman made a gesture to the couch, and Shinichi nodded as he seated himself where she had waved.<br>"A coffee would be nice."  
>Chikage smiled at him and left, allowing Shinichi to study the home of his love; it was a beautiful and cosy home, obviously well cared for and beloved. The walls seemed almost secretive, like they were hiding traps, and Shinichi wouldn't be surprised if they actually did; it was after all the home of the phantom thieves.<p>

The woman came back with two cups of coffee and smiled happily as she held one out to him, causing an old memory to flash through his head.

"_Aw, Yuki-chan! How cute your little Shin-chan is! He's grown so big!" an approximately ten years younger Chikage beamed at him and Shinichi gaped.  
><em>"_I'm not a girl!" he called out whining and pouted as Chikage lifted him into the air, "stop calling me Shin-chan! And I'm not cute!" The women simply snickered at his act.  
><em>"_Kai-chan! Come and meet Shin-chan!"  
>A young boy around his own age skidded out from the kitchen and stared at him when he caught sight of him.<br>"Mom! You copied me! I have a brother!" the boy grinned happily and Shinichi stared bewildered at the child, who looked a lot like him._

Shinichi blinked and took his coffee from Chikage; the woman had a slightly panicked expression. She'd seen the recognition in the detective's eyes.  
>"I'm sorry, I just, though I remembered you from somewhere," Shinichi smiled and directed the conversation as to why he was there. He would have to go with the real plan in order to meet Kaito; befriend Hakuba, then Nakamori-san, and then the thief.<p>

* * *

><p>Ran was glaring at the classroom door when Monday came; if her father hadn't gotten a case, which prevented them from being in Tokyo during the weekend, she would've kicked in the detective geek's door and beaten the crap out of him after she saw the police conference during the Friday's dinner. He had been a complete asshole and hadn't called to say that he was back. He hadn't even apologised! Sonoko was glaring just as much at the door, and her anger only grew worse as the day slowly passed.<p>

Shinichi didn't show up for the first lesson, or the next. Lunch went by, the third lesson passed, and at the end of the forth there was a knock at the door, but by then both Ran and Sonoko wasn't expecting him to show. The door was opened and both of the young women's eyes widened; Shinichi stood in the entrance.

"Isayama-sensei, I've finished," Shinichi stated when the teacher gave him her attention and she raised her eyebrows.  
>"Already?" Shinichi nodded with a confirmation and she walked up to him, "I'll just be a while. Continue reading your books." Ran clenched her fists as the door closed and the class ruptured into a murmur, talking about all of the rumours concerning the person of her hate. The damned detective geek hadn't even looked at her.<br>"Ran!" Sonoko descended upon her friend, "he's here. You have to punish him."  
>"Sonoko, I will," Ran clenched her teeth and shoved a fist into the wall, "he'll be sorry."<p>

Shinichi hadn't known that it was his own class that was inside the classroom, since he didn't have their schedule yet. He'd just finished the five English tests and gone to pick up two new ones and ask how long Isayama would stay after the students had gone home, in case he might have time to complete a third.

* * *

><p>It didn't take him long to finish the tests, and when Isayama came to pick them up he was staring out through the window, wondering how old the memory that had resurfaced at the thief's home was, when suddenly the bench he'd been sitting by broke in half and he found himself staring into the fiery eyes of a furious Ran.<br>"Shin-ichi," she growled lowly and he dodged the next attack which missed his head but caused a hole in the wall.  
><em>'Run!'<em> Pandora commanded, but Shinichi didn't obey. He stayed inside the room and avoided his childhood friend's attacks, knowing that if he ran she would only find him later at home where there were no witnesses. Isayama was trying to stop her with no success while Sonoko cheered her on and Shinichi was quickly forced into a corner. Ran shoved a hand into the wall beside his head, causing him to twitch and gasp; he did _not_ take down the BO and the DO just to die by the hands of Ran.

"I needed you to hate me!" Shinichi called out and everyone in the room blinked confused. "I had to do what I did, so that you would _hate_ me," he continued and locked a sincere gaze with Ran, trying to convey honesty through his eyes, "I didn't think that I was coming back, so you _had _to move on." Shinichi hurriedly began explaining his actions before Ran had even asked the questions. "I worked with people who had been chasing the organisation for their entire life. I saw no end to our struggle, and if they weren't gone when I came home, everyone I cared for would become a target. I wasn't going to let them kill you, so I asked Sherry for advice. She said that you would move on quicker if I lied to you, so I did. I rather have you safe and alive, happily married to someone else, while despising me from the bottom of your heart, than dead, experimented on, or locked up and tortured for the rest of your life. I don't regret the decision I took at the time and I never will, even if you beat me up for the rest of my life."

Ran stared at him in shock and took a step away from him.  
>"Shi-Shinichi! You idiot!" she threw her arms around him after his explanation sunk in and gave him a hug.<br>"I didn't know any other way to make you cut our ties," he mumbled softly and hugged her back, using only one arm, "I understand if you don't want to see me for a while, but I hope that we can somehow save the little friendship we have left, and this time I'll wait for you. Take as much time as you need. I'll be here when you're not angry with me anymore, whether if it takes you five or ten years to forgive me."

"I moved on," Ran mumbled as she cried; somehow that explanation was enough. Even if she was still angry with him she was more relieved that her childhood friend was safely home and that he wasn't a real asshole, "I have a boyfriend now."  
>"I know, and I'm happy for you two. What I feel for you now is family, Ran, you are my beloved sister. And I'm sorry for what I did to you," Shinichi smiled hopefully; maybe he hadn't ruined their friendship completely.<p>

"I'm still angry with you," Ran stated while she pulled away from him, "goodbye Shinichi." The karate-champion walked out of the classroom with the blonde loud-mouth following her, after giving the detective a glare. Shinichi sighed as he slid down the wall; he was mentally and emotionally exhausted and his still wounded shoulder made its injury clear as it protested to the way he'd moved earlier.

* * *

><p>Only a few days passed before a new heist note was delivered and after a week Shinichi had finished half of all the important tests in math and languages, while Ran was still not talking to him. He'd given three interviews just to get a few newspapers off of his back and he'd been working for the police a few times too. Shinichi felt constantly watched, but that was most likely because of the press who followed him wherever he went even though he once caught a glimpse of a white flutter on a rooftop. KID was stalking him too, which explained why he felt watched even at home.<p>

* * *

><p>The British detective was unusually tense during the normal turmoil the taskforce caused when a heist occurred. He was nervous since Kaitou KID had actually chosen to break into a bank for once, where he would steal an entire vault, and Saguru suspected that it was because it had a diamond imbedded into its door. The mission seemed completely unobtainable and the bank had one of the best security systems in Japan, but by the absolutely outrageous cheerfulness Kuroba had displayed the entire week he probably had a way, but what Saguru was most uncomfortable with was the fact that the magician had invited 'a new player' which he called Meitantei-san.<p>

Saguru was a good detective and solved all of the cases handed to him, but he was still just called 'Tantei', and not 'Meitantei', so how good would the new detective be in order to be called 'Meitantei'? Saguru harboured a suspicion that Meitantei-san might actually be Kudou Shinichi, given that he had brought down at least one organisation and constantly helped the police, but he still wondered how Kuroba would've convinced him to show seeing as thieves wasn't an area of what he cared for.

"Nakamori-keibu! He's here!" a taskforce member called out to the inspector and Saguru immediately woke up from his musings.  
>"How can you tell that it's him?! We've had three people claiming that they were sent by KID!" Nakamori roared from his place beside the bank manager.<br>"He has a note in Kaitou KID's handwriting!" the officer called from the door and Saguru quickly made his way there as a grumbling Nakamori glared at the man in a black hoodie, hiding his face.  
>"Let me see it," Saguru demanded with authority and knew exactly who was standing in the doorway when he read it.<p>

"_Meitantei-san, I hereby challenge you in a duel of wits._

_Can the Modern Holmes stop the Modern Lupin from the impossible task of stealing an entire vault?  
>~Kaitou KID *doodle*"<em>

"Let him in," he sighed and the officer stepped to the side. Saguru noticed amused that the newcomer waited until the door was completely closed before he moved his hands to remove the hood protecting him from the media.  
>"Not particularly fond of the press, Kudou?" Saguru asked before the newcomer had time to reveal his identity.<br>"No, not when they are trying to crawl into my house and bed just because they want to find something scandalous to write about," Kudou smiled when he took off the hood, "you must be Hakuba Saguru. It's nice to meet you."  
>"You too," Saguru studied his opponent critically with a polite smile and felt a thick air surround them, "how did you get this note?"<br>"I found it on my fridge," the Detective of the East answered with a shrug and the Brit frowned suspiciously; that was too easy. But he felt better after having gleefully watched how the detective got his cheek pinched, was yelled at and told to stay out of the way. Saguru was delighted that he got the same treatment as everybody else.

"How did you _really_ get it?" Hakuba smiled amused when Shinichi muttered in displeasure from the abuse and gave him a grimace.  
>"He gassed me, tied me to a chair, dyed my hair and told me to show up," the Detective of the East whispered and Hakuba smirked; that sounded more like Kuroba.<br>'_Don't forget the part where he blindfolded us, sat in our lap and tried to get you to tell him about me,'_ Pandora chuckled and Shinichi's smile became strained.

"He did something more that you're not telling me," Hakuba stated when he saw the small blush on the detective's face, but sighed when Shinichi only glanced away and didn't answer. "He named you, you are _his_ now and if you don't show he'll be insulted." Shinichi laughed since he'd love to be the thief's, and they continued speaking; both of them evaluating each other. Shinichi so he would know how to befriend him and Hakuba in a way to make sure that Shinichi would never be able to catch Kaitou KID. Their conversation wandered from slightly hostile to friendly and interested, and the Brit never noticed when Shinichi slowly directed them to speak about Sherlock Holmes, reducing both of them to excited fans worshipping their hero.

Hakuba followed the detective and observed him as they studied the blueprints for the bank's floors inside the surveillance room, discussing where guards would be placed for best effect and what kind of tricks the thief might try to use, not knowing that said thief was gleefully watching them and laughed at their thoughts. The detectives weren't aware of the secret maintenance the bank went through six months ago and the changes he did back then. Kaito had been forced to wait for what he considered an eternity and he couldn't wait to see everyone's faces when the entire vault disappeared; it was magic at its best and he had prepared a great act for it too.

Shinichi absentmindedly scratched the itching and healing wound in his shoulder while he waited for the chaos to begin. He'd made sure that his injury wouldn't become worsened by his plan and the conversation with Hakuba had become quite friendly, to the extent that he wondered if he should invite him to lunch the next heist or the one after that. Shinichi only hoped that KID wouldn't have a one month stop and ruin his befriending process; maybe he could call Hakuba if that happened?

Pain shot through his shoulder as someone grabbed into it, causing Shinichi to hiss and immediately pull away from them.  
>"Bullet wound?" Hakuba asked with interest and studied him critically.<br>"Yes," Shinichi responded with a glare to the other detective's hand, "but I'm a fast healer."  
><em>'Do I get a 'thank you' for that?'<em> Shinichi mentally sighed, feeling that the gem didn't actually care as he only wanted to boast.  
>"You," Hakuba's eyes narrowed slightly, "you were the KID-impostor, weren't you? I've seen pictures taken by a security camera of two thieves running through an office building, and one of them, the one with a hole in his hat, had multiple gunshot wounds, whereas one was in his shoulder, and I'm guessing that that wound wasn't a fake one."<p>

"No, I wasn't," Shinichi muttered lowly, realising that Hakuba wouldn't believe him if he lied, and that wouldn't work in his favour, "don't tell anyone. I have enough with the press already without another connection to Kaitou KID. If they see a picture of me dressed as Kaitou KID they will take that as a confirmation that we're either friends or lovers."  
>Hakuba grimaced; he could understand that Shinichi as a detective didn't want to have that kind of connection to the infamous Kaitou KID, and he assumed that the reason Shinichi was at the heist was to catch the thief in order to prove that he wasn't actually friends with him. The Brit smiled understandingly even though he was amused; he was friends with the thief and went to the heists to protect him from capture. He justified it with the fact that Kuroba wasn't actually a real criminal; he wasn't dangerous at all and never kept the things he stole for more than a few days, and of course he did it because Aoko would be sad if her friend went to jail.<p>

Everyone grew silent when the clock neared eight thirty, and Pandora was looking forward to what would happen.  
>'<em>On your marks!'<em> the gem said in a commentator voice inside his host's head and Shinichi opened a small, beige, egg-shaped object inside his pocket.  
><em>'Ready<em>!' Shinichi pulled out his hand hiding the egg together with two smoke bombs inside his fist.  
><em>'Set!'<em> the officers reached one as they counted down and Shinichi tensed while he prepared himself for the impact, feeling a bit sorry for the Brit who had no idea of what would happen.  
><em>'Go!'<em> Shinichi flipped his wrist when he threw the bombs in front of himself at the same time a smoke cloud appeared in the middle of the room. Kaitou KID appeared when Shinichi's cloud of smoke covered the two detectives and a muffled bang was heard when the egg activated.

Kaito blinked but kept the poker face intact when the smoke cleared and showed two tense detectives covered in purple goo. The thief frowned and cackled inside his head; he hadn't done that, even though they looked amusing, but not as amusing as 'torturing' Meitantei-san had been. He clearly had problems with personal space and Kaito had enjoyed watching him twitch, squeak, stutter and blush. The thief had only needed to sit in the detective's lap to make him blush and then been able to watch that shade of red spread over his face when Kaito threw his arms around his neck. It had been strangely amusing that Meitantei-san squeaked when he was touched, and stammered answers when Kaito whispered questions in his ear, but he never objected. He never once protested with 'no', 'stop' or threatened him despite the obvious boundaries Kaito crossed, but he refused to answer questions about Pandora, or go into detail of what he'd done for the FBI, but anything else he would answer to.

"Nice," Meitantei-san muttered while he scraped away the slime from his face with his hands and flicked them towards the floor, causing the sticky stuff to hit the ground with a splat. Kaito grinned pleased, but didn't point out that it wasn't he who threw the bomb; he would have to deal with figuring out who threw it and why someone was targeting Meitantei-san, since he was covered in twice as much as Tantei-san.

The taskforce stood still in confusion, waiting for orders from Nakamori, which never came, since the real inspector was tied to a chair just outside the vault.  
>"Ladies and Gentlemen!" Kaito called out with a grin, "tonight you will see the impossible made possible. Prepare to be astounded when I, the great thief and magician Kaitou KID, will place an entire vault in my thievery bag." He held out a small cloth bag to underline the impossibility of the task and a few officers snickered; the last time KID performed for them, instead of with them, the thief had changed into many different faces, ended with the inspector's daughter and called the man 'daddy'. It had been a wonderful show, which Nakamori had been upset with for days.<p>

"Get him!" the thief roared in Nakamori's voice and the taskforce immediately reacted on reflex and threw themselves at him, while he laughing avoided them and covered them in fun colours. Kaito ran around the room until every member was either one or more colours and then made his way down to the basement.

"Now, Ladies and Gentlemen," Kaito grinned as he stood in the middle of the large corridor-like room, leaning with a hand on top of the struggling and gagged Nakamori, "take your seats!" The thief snapped his fingers, causing row after row of chairs to appear in puffs of smoke. The taskforce haltered for a moment and then found themselves tied to the chairs. Kaito grinned as he walked in front of his audience; the set up was perfect. The thief haltered in front of two empty chairs and realised that two people were missing.  
>'Now this is just rude,' Kaito grumbled to himself, 'where's Tantei-san and Meitantei-san?' He hummed absentmindedly as he walked up to the main floor and tilted his head. The both detectives were standing on the exact same spot, where they had been standing from the beginning, small talking with each other and he cleared his throat.<p>

"Oh no," Tantei-san sighed, but neither detective turned to him, "he's back."  
>The thief neared them carefully and circled them grinning, neither detective moved. He knocked on the purple goo covering them from head till toe; it had hardened. Kaito mentally frowned; what did that bomb actually accomplish?<br>Kaito grinned, gassed them both and tore off a piece of the purple stuff; he had to check exactly what it was.

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><p>When Shinichi woke up he was almost entirely cleaned from the slime and tied to a chair beside Hakuba, who was already awake, watching Kaitou KID hold a magic show.<br>"Ah! Meitantei-san! You sleepy-head!" the thief grinned affectionately, "you should know better than to 'fall asleep on the job'."  
>"Thank you," Shinichi deadpanned and ignored the pike, "I'll try to remember it to the next time." He stared up at the vault with a circular opening and the thief finished his trick.<p>

"And now that my favourite critics are both conscious," he cleared his throat, "I mean; here. I can now allow you to see me steal the vault with magic. Ladies and Gentlemen, Detectives and Cops," the thief pulled out the small cloth bag again and showed it around, "I will now show you how I shrink the vault into a manageable size and walks away with it." He flapped the bag and suddenly held in a large drape which he fastened to the vaults beside the one he was going to steal. "Do you think I can do it?" he asked and a few of the taskforce members nodded.

Shinichi frowned; it wasn't possible to shrink or steal the vault, but it was Kaitou KID they were watching so there must be a trick involved. If it had been on a real stage, he'd said that it was just a simple trick of smoke and mirrors, but now it was a real bank vault, inside the concrete in a basement, placed beside other bank vaults.  
>"Mentantei-san, you look hesitant. You don't think I can do it?" KID asked and Shinichi felt all eyes on him.<br>"Given that you've already said that you will take it, I have to guess that you have some way," the detective stated quietly. KID seemed strangely pleased with the answer and removed the drape. The vault was gone. The opening was square and the room they looked into had something small on the floor. The thief walked inside the room, ruling out any trick with mirrors, and picked it up.  
>"My lovely critics, you have 24 hours to figure out how this happened, or I'll win, and after that I'll return it in perfect condition," KID informed as he exited the vault and plastered a note to the wall.<p>

"Isn't this a more manageable size?" he asked and held up the small object; it was the exact same vault, only miniaturized and Shinichi gaped; the only noise he'd heard was a slight scraping for a few seconds, but the shrinking was still impossible, it had to be done in some other way.

"You know you're not a very good audience; no one applauded," KID stated complaining even though his visible eye twinkled in amusement.  
>"But," a member from the taskforce said confused while KID placed the mini-vault in his bag, "we're tied up."<br>The magician laughed at the comment while he disappeared in a puff of smoke and the restraints loosened around the wrists of everyone. His laughter was slowly dying away into the distance, even though he was nowhere to be seen.

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><p>AN: I don't want to be too outdrawn with Ran forgiving him, or hating him. It's annoying.

How do you think KID stole the vault?


	35. In a Battle of Wits

A/N: Okay, this was actually supposed to be a SubChapter and unimportant, but I'm not fast enough to write this and a second chapter. So here you go. Hope you'll enjoy.

I finally made the cover picture! Yeay!

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

Uploaded: 2012-06-29  
>Revised: 2014-09-16<br>Chapter rating: K+  
>Words: 2,500<p>

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><p><strong>Chap. 35<br>In a Battle of Wits  
><strong>  
>Shinichi frowned as carefully examined the walls inside the vault for the thousandth time, unaware that the Brit saw it as the perfect opportunity to study how good he was. The room wasn't smaller than what it was on the blueprints, so KID hadn't placed fake walls inside it. The detective placed himself with his back against the concrete and eyed the room like it was somehow in cahoots with the thief. Hakuba was standing in the doorway, examining the square and larger-than-before opening, also for the thousandth time.<br>"There's gravel on the floor," the Brit stated quietly and Shinichi pushed himself away from the wall with a last glare to the room.  
>"Yes, there's gravel beside the walls too, but none in the middle," Shinichi answered and left the room.<p>

The taskforce were trying to come up with ways as to how Kaitou KID did it, getting nowhere, but what caught Shinichi's eye was the bank manager on the other side of the room, who was speaking with the head of his own security. The bank manager looked pleased, even though he would probably lose customers because of the theft of an entire bank vault.

"Excuse me, sir," Shinichi said to the man as he got close and the security chief left them alone, "did you lose anything inside the vault?"  
>"No, of course not," the dark haired man in a suit and glasses answered with a smile, which didn't quite reach his eyes, "if Kaitou KID says that he's going to steal something, he'll do it, so we emptied the vault and placed its contents in the others." Shinichi nodded and glanced over the vaults; three older-looking ones with round doors separated by two newer ones with square doors, iris- and handprint-security.<br>"Why the different doors?" he asked intrigued and turned back to the bank manager.  
>"It's different types of security on the vaults, depending on the value of what's stored here, or how much one is willing to pay for higher security."<br>"Aren't you going to lose a lot of customers because of this?"  
>"Maybe, but it's the perfect opportunity to upgrade the first vaults security. Our five vaults were from the beginning only one, the one in the middle, and this was a long time ago. That vault was bigger than all five combined. The 5th of June 1907 we were robbed and decided to reduce the dimensions of the first one to the size it has today while building two new ones with a higher security. And the other two are modern vaults with top security."<br>"When did you make the new vaults?"  
>"I'm not sure," the manager answered smiling and Shinichi blinked as the man suddenly left him in order to speak with Nakamori. The detective glared after him; he knew things that happened 1907 before he was born, but not recent things, it was obvious that he was lying, but why? Why did he lie about something like that?<br>Shinichi frowned and tried to remind himself of everything he'd heard about the bank in the newspapers; it was going better than good, and they had opened two new banks in central Tokyo, one three months ago and the other last week. The detective felt watched and looked up, only to see Hakuba quickly turn his head around and walk into the hole.

Shinichi raised an eyebrow, ignored the Brit and walked up the stairs, counting his steps and got to the main floor, unaware that the bank had opened the blinds so that the media had full insight into what was going on, too deep in thought he didn't discover it either. The detective placed his left hand in his pocket and absentmindedly lifted the other to his face as he was thinking.

Every step was approximately 20 centimetres giving him a floor-depth of roughly five metres, with the vaults at a height of three metres it could have been raised into the ceiling, and the scraping he'd heard would've been the door being pulled inside, but that would make the length of the vault longer compared to the others, and the roof fake. It could be the other way around too, that the vault had been lowered, still leaving the room longer than it should be.

Shinichi looked around inside the bank and saw a broom in the corner behind the counter; it would do. He picked it up and went to the elevator, which had a guard in front of it and Shinichi recognised him as the same man that had been speaking with the bank manager, but his hair had a slightly browner colour, or maybe it was just the different lighting.  
>"I need to go down in the elevator," Shinichi said to the guard, who didn't look like he would move.<br>"Take the stairs," the man muttered while eying the bloom and the detective sighed.  
>"The police have the right to this building as long as the vault is gone, and if you don't move out of the way, <em>right now<em>, I will have you arrested for obstruction of a police investigation," the detective rattled off and the guard paused for a moment before moving out of the way, but entered the elevator after Shinichi.

The detective hummed and pressed the stop button soon after they moved, making the guard call out in shock as the elevator grew dark. Shinichi ignored the man and opened the hatch on the roof using the broom.  
>The detective took a step on the wall as he jumped and hung with the lower half of his body into the elevator.<br>_'Wound! Get down from there, you nitwit!'_ Pandora called out in expiration as he looked around the elevator shaft using the light from his watch. He could almost see Pandora rolling his eyes at him. He realised a bit shocked that he could actually feel it; it was like Pandora was closer to him. Before, Pandora had simply been a voice in his head, but now it was like he could feel the other's movement, feelings, wishes, dreams.  
>"Start the elevator," Shinichi called down and felt how he began to descend, filing away the questions for Pandora to later, and then found what he was looking for; an air vent, but it was too small, not even a child would've been able to get into it. The detective sighed as he pulled the hatch down with him as he fell into the elevator exactly when the ding was heard; another theory had been ruled out, and he left the elevator with the broom while the guard peered curiously at him and placed himself so that he stood in between the doors, hindering anyone from using it.<p>

Shinichi walked into the vault and struck the roof with the broom, intriguingly watched by Hakuba as he discerned a snicker and an arrogant comment from two taskforce members who stood in the doorway. The detective measured the length of the vault, finding it to be exactly as the blueprints had told him hours ago and Hakuba sighed, knowing what Shinichi had begun looking for.  
>"Who do you think is the seme in their relationship?" the larger member whispered loudly and Shinichi ignored them as the Brit threw them an annoyed look.<br>"Don't know," the skinny and small man answered, "Kudou-sama is very good at what he does and seems very dominant, but I don't think they are having a relation. I think it's just the media, who-,"  
>"Hiro, can you really see Kaitou KID as uke?" the blunt member questioned and ignored Hiro's thoughts about the claim.<br>"No, not really," he answered weakly, and Shinichi threw them a glance; Hiro didn't seem to enjoy the other's choice of topic.  
>"So you think that KID is seme?"<br>"I… I guess," Hiro sighed and went along with whatever the other wanted, "but, Ryota, I don't think they are having a-,"  
>"Who do you think cleans?" Ryota grinned amused and sent the detective a demeaning smirk as he eyed the broom. Shinichi struck the walls for good measure and heard something that didn't make sense, but it was drowned in the snicker of the taskforce member.<br>"Well, considering that Kudou-sama is living alone and is rich, I'd say he or a maid is doing the cleaning at his home, but I don't know if Kaitou KID's real identity is living alone or has a partne-."  
>"You know what, Hiro? You're boring. I think they are fucking each other. Kudou there is uke and he does the cleaning and cooking like a good wife should," Ryota roared with laughter and Shinichi flicked his watch open; no one had to know that he was the one who shot him and in the chaos he could remove the needle. The detective eyed Hakuba, who was observing the two taskforce members in resentment, and Shinichi smirked as he took aim and fired. He quickly lowered his arm and looked back to the ceiling, hearing Ryota yawn and then slump against the wall; at least now he could explore that rattling noise.<p>

"Ryota!" Hiro called out and crouched down. Shinichi ran up to the fallen man and blocked Hakuba's line of sight when he pulled out the needle. The detective glanced around and met the security guard's eyes. Shinichi froze; the guard might have seen him pull the needle out, but he decided to act like he hadn't done anything wrong and checked the man's pulse.  
>"Don't worry, he's only asleep," Shinichi smiled to Hiro and the man nodded. "And I don't have a maid," the detective whispered while he gave Hiro's shoulder a friendly pat and the man blushed.<br>"I-, I'm sorry Kudou-sama," Hiro bowed to him, "I was trying to quiet him down. He has problems with people he doesn't trust, or simply all people." Shinichi gave the man his best and most encouraging smile.  
>"Don't worry, Hiro-san, these last hours without any coffee have been tearing on me, but I'm far from biting someone's head off, even though I dislike hypocrites." The man looked at him confused. "Well cared for nails with French manicure," Shinichi began and showed Ryota's hands to him, "he did a bad cleaning job; he still has mascara on his eyelashes, while he's been wearing some kind of glittery eye-shadow and he has a line of foundation on his neck; Ryota here is a drag queen, and he doesn't actually hate me. I've seen the way he looks at me with admiration when he thinks that no one sees. It's a front he puts up, a stupid front. He wants KID and me to openly be together since we are both very famous, which might decrease the negativity surrounding the notion of being different." Shinichi sighed and blinked; why did he even care to explain someone else's actions.<br>"I didn't even think about the makeup," Hakuba muttered, "I just dismissed him as an asshole."  
>"Well," Shinichi grinned and left the man to the other taskforce members as he entered the room again, "the way he's choosing to act makes him one."<p>

Shinichi struck the wall hard and heard small pebbles fall to the ground, only problem was that it was on the other side of it. He bent down and examined the floor; still no gap. He looked up as he stood and pushed the bloom head into the corner, seeing straws go inside. Shinichi quickly walked out and spotted the bank manager observing everything.  
>"Excuse me, can you open the bank vault beside the oldest one?"<br>"No, absolutely not," the man immediately commented, sounding almost offended, "what do you think KID did? Place one vault inside another?"  
>"Exactly," the detective said with a smirk, knowing that he didn't have much time to prove it before KID would return.<br>"That's absurd!"  
>"Then prove me wrong." The bank manager snorted, but did as he was told.<p>

Shinichi frowned when the new vault was opened; it was in perfect condition, nothing had fallen over and it was full of locked boxes.  
>"Impossible," Shinichi mumbled and walked inside, "is everything in its place?"<br>"Yes," the man answered as he looked around. Shinichi couldn't get to the walls but he saw that they were made out of iron and when he struck the wall toward the old vault with the broom he heard nothing; the new vault had only one size. Puzzled, Shinichi walked out and the manager huffed.  
>"Now the other one," the detective began walking towards the vault but then stopped and blinked; the five steps he'd taken should put him in between the both vaults, but he was nowhere near close. The manager opened the second vault and Shinichi counted his steps as he walked into it and gave it the same treatment.<p>

Shinichi went outside and measured his steps as he paced back and forth; there was space missing. The detective smirked and strolled over to the elevator where he leaned against the wall beside the guard, who eyed him in interest.  
>"I figured it out," he grinned and the guard smirked amused.<br>"Good for you," the guard's voice had changed, "but you're two seconds late. I won."  
>"Your watch must be wrong."<br>"Tantei-san's watch is never wrong." Shinichi looked around and found that Hakuba had stopped caring about the vault and was searching for his watch.  
>"Well, your rules, but I still know the trick," the detective grinned.<br>"Please, do enlighten me," the thief smiled his normal smirk.  
>"When the bank built the new vaults, not too long ago, you were there and changed the dimensions, causing them to be uneven. You must've cut the old vault in half and then installed some kind of device to draw it into the empty spaces on each side. A wall rose up from underground making it look like the vault was gone, and since the vaults are airtight and soundproof you didn't have to care about noise. There is a marking on the floor too; a line from one end to the other, so the scraping noise I heard was the door being pulled inside, together with the wall, lifted and then placed face-down into the floor with the wall over it. You removed the lifting mechanisms when the smoke covered the entrance and left no trace."<br>"Hmm, not quite. You are missing a few pointers but otherwise you're right; there was no noise other than the walls rising up and the door being pulled inside, figure that one out. I also like what you did to Queen-san," KID whispered in amusement, "but I'm surprised that there aren't more inside the taskforce. Have you seen the questioner they have to fill out? Stabile psyche and not afraid of public humiliation. It's just a joke, geez, they have to lighten up. It's not like I take photos and hand out to their friends and the media."  
>"Have you been tested for insanity?" Shinichi asked with a smile, causing the guard to laugh and then clap his hands, drawing everyone's attention.<p>

"Ladies and Gentlemen! We have a winner!" the thief said loudly as he walked into the middle of the room and tauntingly held up the watch for Hakuba to see, "and now; your vault!" Smoke covered the opening, the same scraping noise was heard and when the smoke dissipated the vault's door was back, but it no longer had the diamond. KID disappeared, leaving a single red rose in his place, and Shinichi shook his head as he began explaining what the thief had done.


	36. How to Stalk Your Detective

A/N: Holy Crap, I never expected to write this story for so long, or that so many would like it and review! Thank you your support means a lot to me :D

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

Uploaded: 2012-07-04  
>Revised: 2014-09-16<br>Chapter rating: K+  
>Words: 3,700<p>

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><p><strong>Chap. 36<br>How to Stalk Your Detective**

Kaito grinned as he sat by the window, staring out into the clear sky; it was a cold day even though the sun warmed pleasantly. The magician, with some reporters, had been indulging in the sport of Detective Stalking for over three weeks and he'd decided that all kinds of normal Tantei-watching was quite boring compared to the new Meitantei-watching, seeing as meitanteis are a rare breed of detectives who, other than being extremely paranoid, had a high ratio of determination and intellect. And just like the small and unusual specie of tanteis, the Tantei-kun, meitanteis were also cursed.

The males had captivatingly blue eyes and a charming smile, giving it an undeniably alluring presence. The meitanteis used these traits to channel serenity into other species; particularly the male and female reporter seemed to enjoy the meitanteis' calming company. But this specific male, Meitantei-san, had the ability to attract almost all females from other species; mainly the singles, the students, the fans and the police, but very few of the other species' males didn't see it as a major competitor, which they both loved and disliked for its enthralling company. It seemed like Meitantei-san was almost worshipped by the reporters, the fans and many from the police. The only one that seemed to completely detest the meitanteis were the criminals, which hunted the other breeds, and often attacked them when they were in few numbers.

Kaito suddenly started snickering from the analytical voice in his head and his classmates eyed him warily, 'the meitanteis were also beloved by every other specie anyone could think of, for example,' Kaito whipped his head around and stared at his teacher, who swallowed nervously, but still continued the lecture, 'the teachers. Despite the long absence this particular meitantei had taken, the teachers still loved it and rewarded it with high grades. Meitantei-san deserved the rewards the teachers gave it, given that keen observation had shown that it worked very hard to achieve its goals, even though he certainly charmed the females."

Saguru glared at the grinning magician that returned his attention to the outside; he was still looking ridiculously happy even though Kudou had figured out how the thief had 'stolen' the vault and then stopped him completely in his tracks the very next heist. The Brit caressed the watch carefully; he'd found it inside his bench the day after the second heist and he really disliked when people touched it, especially the larcenous magician with a knack for picking things apart; who knew what would happen to it if it stayed in the company of that sticky-fingered thief for too long.

The pocket watch was one of his most treasured possessions which he'd inherited from his grandparents, who loved to spoil him. They were the only relatives who actually cared about him when he was little, but once they died Baaya was the only person he even considered family. The watch represented all of his happy memories of playing in the park, eating his grandmother's home made foods and being pushed on the swing by his grandfather. Neither his mother nor father had been around much during his childhood, especially his father given that he both worked and lived in Japan, while his mother was mostly bored by his presence or was working. Absentmindedly the Brit moved his hand to his hair to slowly and cautiously draw out specks of hardened purple slime until break began; it was annoying how hard it stuck to his hair, and what was worse was that it got even more troublesome when he used shampoo, hell, his hair was just as unruly as Kuroba's.

* * *

><p>"Kuroba!" Hakuba called out just as Kaito opened the window to escape, and was hastily pulled inside. "How do I get this purple stuff out of my hair?" he hissed and the magician shrugged like he always did to that question.<br>"Come on, tell me! I've tried the usual mixture of different juices, and I even tried milk!"  
>"Hakuba, I have no idea!" Kaito commented, still smiling, but the Brit didn't seem to believe him, "maybe we can talk tomorrow? I have somewhere I need to be, and someone I <em>need <em>to mess with, unless you're offering up yourself." Hakuba gave him a grim look and released his grip from Kaito's shirt. The magician grinned and left the classroom through the window, causing the teacher to sigh.

* * *

><p>Kaito made his way to Teitan High and watched how Meitantei-san sat by himself in an empty classroom doing a test of some kind. The thief had decided that Meitantei-watching was fun, but as long as the detective was at home he was a bit boring since all he would do was homework and an occasional case-solved-by-phone for the police. He was sporadically talking to himself and it seemed like he was a good conversationalist given that he could laugh or snicker at nothing, but that was probably some of his quirks, or he had some kind of multiple personality disorder, causing him and himself to interact with each other, which could be interesting. The second heist with Meitantei-san had gone by without any unwanted bombs and he still hadn't figured out who threw the purple slime-stuff; he'd considered every single option ranging from the whiny Tantei-san to a taskforce member, and even Meitantei-san himself, since it was more likely that 'Imposter-san' was responsible compared to Hakuba, but he would need it to happen again in order to figure it out.<p>

Suddenly the detective twitched and jolted his head up from the assignment. Kaito shivered as he met a pair of blue eyes through the binoculars. If he didn't know better he'd say that Meitantei-san could see him, and it was creeping him out. Kaito sat still, not daring to breathe until that piercing gaze moved to study the surroundings, trying to find the source of his uneasiness. The thief grinned; that was something Meitantei-san always did just after he'd begun to be watched, but then he would shrug it off and ignore it in order to go back to whatever he was doing in the first place.

The detective seemed a bit lonely seeing as all that he would do was schoolwork, no one ever visited him except Science-san a few times every week to tease him for being a bad cook; it was funny that she would come over to taste his food for some reason and then leave a snarky comment about 'not being able to catch the heart of his prey' with it. They even argued about it once and made a bet. Meitantei-san would bring Science-san to a restaurant to taste a dish and then they would both remake it. Kaito had seen the detective shop and try to replicate the dish, sometimes muttering that he was an idiot for falling onto her trap.

The detective stopped working and started to stare out the window on the last orange-red leaves covering the trees; he seemed to be quite content by sunbathing beside the window. Kaito smirked; it had been interesting to observe him during the heists. His eyes had shone with determination and Kaito had loved that predatory gleam just after he'd figured out most of the trick; he really tried compared to Hakuba, who seemed go give up in order to stare at the other detective. Meitantei-san always appeared to know exactly what he was doing, and he was just as good as Kaito had hoped; good enough to give him a challenge, but not good enough to catch him, even though it was really close the second time.

The chimes called out for lunch and a teacher soon after entered the classroom to take his test. Kaito then watched how the detective ate his lunch together with some guys from his class who teased him for 'being left and ignored by his wife' and urged him to eat faster so that they could play a game of football.

The thief giggled, in character of his female persona, as he ate his own lunch on a bench by the wall of the school and watched the game; Meitantei-san looked like he was having a great deal of fun, next time he would disguise as a guy and challenge him; that would be interesting. He could use magic to tease him and then purposely, and discreetly, let him know that he was Kaitou KID.  
>"Aren't you cold?" a voice asked and Kaito turned towards it while he pulled a little in his skirt.<br>"No, not at all," he answered smiling in a female voice and gestured for the student to sit down, "Mouri Ran? Right?"  
>"Yes, how did you know?" Ran asked curiously as she sat down and Kaito giggled a bit.<br>"I watched you during a karate competition. You know that guy, out on the field," Kaito nodded towards the detective, "Kudou-san, right?" The young woman grew a bit annoyed by his question and threw him a suspicious glance.  
>"Yes, why?" she asked coldly and Kaito swallowed nervously; he knew that Meitantei-san and Mouri-chan had been 'the couple to be' and now they were having some kind of fight. Kaito only knew something about a confession and a heartless breakup, but he didn't trust what the crazy KID-fan had told him; it was too much description from someone who hadn't even been there, and Suzuki-san had a very vivid imagination, drawn towards tremendous amounts of drama.<p>

"I was just curious," Kaito smiled a bit shyly, trying to look as non-threatening as possible and was happy that he'd chosen a disguise that was plain and boring; Ran would look like a vibrant queen in comparison to himself right now, "he was working with the FBI, chasing that horrible organisation, right? I bet it was very dangerous. I even heard he was shot in the shoulder, but he isn't showing anything."  
>"He was working with the FBI," Ran agreed sadly, "but I haven't heard anything about him getting shot; that's probably just a rumour." Kaito tilted his head towards the field as the detective made a goal and blinked innocently; the detective had a high threshold for pain, but that he didn't tell anyone that he'd been shot was strange.<br>"I heard that he can get shot and still continue if he has a goal," Kaito commented and threw a glance at the other while he picked up his bento and continued to eat.  
>"Shinichi? Hmm," Ran frowned as she thought about it, "never! He would probably cry and want to be babied; he loves being babied when he's ill or injured." The woman laughed and Kaito frowned; he knew for a fact that Meitantei-san had been shot and he hadn't stopped his mission even if it killed him, in a matter of fact, it nearly did.<br>"Yea, you're probably right!" Kaito snickered along, but sighed on the inside, "so, how long are you going to be angry with him?"  
>"You know about that?"<br>"Everyone does," Kaito smirked as she blushed.  
>"Sonoko..." she muttered and then sighed, "I don't know. I'm not actually angry anymore. I'm just disappointed that he didn't trust me in the first place, and I feel bad for everything that happened, but now I'm happy that he's home and safe. I just wished that he'd told me the truth earlier." Kaito nodded and thought of his own situation with Aoko; it was close to the situation Meitantei-san had had. Both of them had been against an organisation, which was life threatening to anyone around them if the criminals found out. Meitantei-san had been undercover, while Kaito had a secret identity as a thief. Aoko might or might not understand if he explained it to her, but she would definitely be angry with him and tell him to quit looking for Pandora. Meitantei-san had finished his mission, but Kaito had not; he still needed to find the gem and destroy it.<p>

"I think I understand why he didn't tell you the truth," Kaito smiled a bit at Ran, who gave him a shocked expression since most people she'd spoken to had sided with her, "he wanted to protect you from the world he lived in; a world of death and darkness. He didn't want you to worry about him every time he risked his life, even though he knew that he might one day die. He wanted you to live your life without the fear and worry."  
>"Who are you?" she asked and Kaito giggled a bit nervously.<br>"Oh, I have to leave," the thief got up and brushed off his skirt and made his way towards the detective when the game ended.

_'tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock,'_  
>'Pandora, what do you want?' Shinichi muttered inside his head as he made his way off the field.<br>_'Oh, nothing. You're distracted, I'm not. Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock,'_  
>'What's with the clock-noises?'<br>_'Remember the crocodile that swallowed a clock in Peter Pan, so that you always knew when it was coming?'_  
>'Yea, what about it?'<br>_'You're distracted so I'm your alarm clock,'_ Pandora gleefully informed him and snickered, _'tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock."_  
>'Alarm for what?' Shinichi wondered as a female passed him and Pandora smirked.<br>_'Tick-tock, tick-tock, check thy pocket, tick-tock,'_  
>'Now what?' Shinichi grumbled and pulled up a paper which hadn't been there earlier. He stared for a moment at the note with a KID-doodle in the corner and then jolted his head towards the girl's direction; she smirked at him as she walked towards the gates, the same smile he'd seen every heist, and Shinichi knew that it was a challenge; 'catch me if you can'. The detective smiled back 'oh, I will, just not the way you expect' and the thief grinned as he walked away.<p>

Ran felt strangely betrayed and jealous; she'd seen the other slip Shinichi the note and the way Shinichi smiled at it while he read it made her want to beat up the girl. She was confused about her feelings; she both hated the detective geek and loved him, even though she really liked Isamu and could see a future together with him she still had feelings for Shinichi, but of course he'd moved on.

"Do you know her?" Ran asked a bit sadly when the detective passed her on his way to the door.  
>"Yes and no, we've met," Shinichi smiled, happy that Ran had decided to speak to him again.<br>"Do you like her?" she asked and Shinichi grinned in amusement.  
>"Yea," he answered slowly, "Kaitou KID is a really likable guy. Strange hobbies though."<br>"KID? That was Kaitou KID?" Ran blushed; even a thief knew about her and Shinichi's fight.  
>"Yes, he delivered a heist note," the detective showed her the note for a moment and then stared at it, "at least I think so."<br>"Oh, I, oh," Shinichi raised an eyebrow at her stammering, until she glared at him and left in embarrassment without saying anything more, leaving the detective thinking that he'd done something wrong, again.

* * *

><p>The detective was distracted during the rest of his test filled day. Kaito saw cheerfully how his gaze was constantly drawn towards the note and how he sometimes picked it up and read it over and over again. The detective mouthed the words on the note and seemed to enjoy reading it before going back to his tests. The thief never noticed when his own smile grew warm and fond; he felt like he'd known the detective much longer than he actually had, and he kept studying the way the sun made the detective's hair shine, the way the other's eyes closed and opened when he blinked, how his hands moved as he wrote, how his tongue moistened his lips and before Kaito knew it, the entire day had gone by and he found himself outside the Kudou residence.<p>

Meitantei-san was cooking some kind of wok while listening to the radio.  
>"Oh, an old classic!" he smiled at the radio and Kaito read his lips, not aware that the detective was having a conversation with the gem he was looking for.<br>_'Dance! I remember us dancing to this with mom when we were small! It was fun!'_  
>'No, I can't dance to it by myself; I'll look ridiculous!'<br>_'Aw come on! Who's going to see you? And you can dance with me,'_  
>'Dance with you? You're inside me, of course I'll be dancing with you whether I like it or not,'<br>_'Just close your eyes,'_ Shinichi did as the gem wanted with a sigh, and saw the flickering red shape of Pandora. Quickly the lines expanded and he could see the entire vibrating room, but then Pandora changed and Shinichi stared; before him stood none other than a very feminine version of his alter ego, Fujimine Mizuki.  
><em>'What's wrong Shin-chan? Aren't you going to invite me to a dance?' <em>the voice Shinichi had chosen for Mizuki asked and he smiled.

"May I have this dance?" Shinichi asked loudly, took Pandora's hand and kissed it. Kaito laughed as he watched the detective dance by himself in the kitchen with his eyes closed.  
>'There's something that's been bothering me about you,' Pandora smirked amused; the jewel knew the question but wouldn't answer until Shinichi had actually asked it face to face, 'are you really a guy?'<br>_'Of course not, I'm a jewel! I'm neither male nor female; I just take on the characteristics of my host. What I mean is; would you feel comfortable with a feminine voice in your head? Hmm, I could wear a white hat, cape and monocle too,'_ Pandora smirked teasingly, knowing that it would make Shinichi uncomfortable, _'okay, the things would be red, not white… But, now that I've lost my memories I feel male, since I pretty much only remembers our childhood, both of them.'_ Pandora grinned and his eyes shone with mirth.

'_Technically,' _Pandora began again and wrapped his arms around the detective's neck, _'you could have an affair with yourself, or anyone of your choosing, how about Kaito?'_ Shinichi gasped, opened his eyes, and then quickly got back to stirring in the pan while his cheeks burned fiercely and Pandora laughed.  
><em>'I'm so sorry, I couldn't resist!'<br>_"Baaroo! Don't do things like that! I don't think it's healthy!"  
><em>'Yes, you're right; today we had sixty-two thousand, five hundred and three confirmed cases of death by imagination, and tomorrow we're expecting twice as many,'<em> the gem smirked in irony and leaned back into his chair in the library and spun around in it, _'but if you took care of our body better we wouldn't be so damn horny!'_

'I meant mentally healthy! I have a voice in my head telling me to sleep with myself, and I don't even have to imagine it, because it would be 'real'! And I can't take care of our body, not when I know that you're watching,' Shinichi grumbled and blushed even deeper.  
><em>'I'll close my eyes! Oh, wait, that wouldn't help,' <em>Pandora rolled his eyes and ran a hand through his hair, _'I just hope that you're aware that we're going to get a 'growing' problem if you don't do anything.'  
><em>'I know,' Shinichi complained sheepishly, but then felt how Pandora sighed.  
><em>'I'll be quiet… And you know that I've always been there when you did it before…'<br>_'Fine, I'll do it, but you can't talk to me,' Shinichi sighed as he placed his food on a plate and went to the table.  
><em>'Ha! You can't resist me! I'm irresistible!'<br>_'Please, shut up. I don't want to think about it,' Shinichi took a bite of the food and immediately spat it out.  
>'<em>Go lighter on the seasoning,'<em> the gem grimaced at the taste as Shinichi sighed and got up to go and get milk for the spiciness.  
>'And whose fault is that?'<br>_'Yea, blame the innocent gem with no way of moving the body,'_ Pandora grinned and Shinichi snorted.  
>'Yes, very innocent, you distracted me with… <em>That<em> topic, maybe I should have you tested for insanity; that would be interesting.'  
><em>'Yes, it would, but how are you going to do it? Hi, I'm Kudou Shinichi, I would like to test the voice in my head for insanity… Can you do that later? I don't want to be locked up,'<em> Pandora hummed amused and Shinichi smirked as he glanced out the window, _'oh, I just thought of something interesting! What if **you** are insane?_' Shinichi deadpanned as he got back to eating, _'no, listen to me. You have a talking voice in your head; me!'  
><em>'But you're magical,'  
><em>'Good, you're playing along.'<em> Shinichi smirked in amusement; he wasn't playing along, he was just stating the truth, which actually sounded nuts_. 'You dreamed up everything; this is your imagination and you're so far gone that you're not actually aware that you are living in your own imagination. How do you know if you are in the real world or in an imagined one?'  
><em>'I wouldn't know, but someone would have given me a pill for it-,'  
><em>'There's no cure! A cure for your insanity hasn't been invented and no one knows how to help you, so they simply get you to eat your food and… change your diaper. And you're just sitting there drooling.'<em>  
>'Your imagination is just horrible,' the detective muttered and took up the note again; he would go to the police station tomorrow and hand it to Nakamori.<p>

'_Greetings Meitantei-san!  
>You seemed to have had just as fun as I on our first dates, so prepare for the next!<em>

_When the created season is changing, I'm thinking of a candle lit dinner on a day of rest, classical music by a great composer who practically defined the solo form of concerto, a warm seat in front of the crackling blue fire, a glass of red wine and white moonlight falling in from the window on the ceiling.  
>I'll meet you there.<em>

_~Kaitou KID'_

Shinichi smiled at the KID-doodle with a small heart by his hat and a hand holding a rose; he liked it and it would be interesting to find out how a genuine date with the thief would go, but the fact was that it was an actual heist note, which followed the media's excitement over him chasing KID. The detective sighed as he placed it on the table and continued to eat while thinking about it.


	37. Minds Over Body

A/N:

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

Uploaded: 2012-07-09  
>Revised: 2014-09-16<br>Chapter rating: T  
>Words: 3,300<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Chap. 37<br>Mind(s) Over Body**

Pandora smirked in amusement as he lay on his red bed and ran through a kidnapping scenario with a bad outcome; Shinichi didn't even stir his sleep when the gem explored crimes or fights, unlike when he analysed magic, old heists or the possible results of their plan. The gem opened his eyes and stared up on the ceiling in confusion. It was completely dark and he was feeling strangely tired, but there was something else; he needed to pee. Pandora blinked puzzled; he knew that they had been growing closer and that Shinichi was aware of it, but he'd never expected it to feel like he had a body. The gem yawned while he waited for the detective to wake up, until he grew bored and simply got up. He stretched his body with another yawn and decided to go to the library, but as soon as he opened the door to his room he stopped frozen; the lamp in the hallway wasn't shining in red like it usually did. Pandora could see colours, and the only time he could actually do that was when he saw the world through the eyes of the body.

Pandora ran to the bathroom, switched on the lights and stared into the mirror with a grin; slightly glowing, red eyes instead of blue ones stared back at him and he moved the hands in the mirror. He was moving their body while Shinichi's conscious was still sleeping. Pandora cleared his throat.  
>"Hello," he said to the image in the mirror and blinked, "how awesome!" The jewel grinned in amusement; what would he do first? Pandora glanced to the toilet; pee, first he would pee, and then take a bath.<p>

* * *

><p>When Shinichi woke up he was staring down on a book.<br>"Good morning!" his voice said out loud while his hand changed page and Shinichi felt himself panic; he wasn't controlling anything.  
>'Pandora! What the hell!'<br>_'Calm down,'_ Pandora grumbled as he leaned back and closed his eyes. They were suddenly standing in front of each other in complete darkness.  
>'What's happening?' Shinichi glared at the red figure.<br>_'To be honest; I don't know, but it seems like I can control our body too!'  
><em>'Okay,' Shinichi paused and held up his hands, shielding himself, 'I'm guessing that we're going to have a problem now.' Pandora raised an eyebrow. 'We can't share the body with any kind of system; we can't go one day you and one day me. So how do we do it?'  
>'<em>Oh, that won't be a problem,'<em> Pandora smiled, _'when I have control over our body our eyes glow red, which is kind of unusual among humans so I'll just sit back and enjoy the ride, but maybe you'll let me take over from time to time when no one can see us. I can go for a walk in the forest, take a bath and annoy Haibara.'  
><em>'Okay, so that solves everything,' Shinichi sighed while Pandora sat down in his library chair, watching the other and causing the library to appear, 'how do I take over?' The gem leaned back with a smug smile.  
>'<em>Have you tried to opening your eyes?'<br>_'No... Of course I have!' Shinichi glared at the red shape.  
>'<em>Okay, this is something we have to train. We need to be able to switch fast. Close your eyes.'<br>_'My eyes are closed.'  
>'<em>Not in here they're not. Close your eyes,'<em> Shinichi did as he was told, _'remember what it's like to open your eyes when you wake up. And then open your eyes.'_ Shinichi opened his eyes and saw the real library in his home. '_Okay, that's funny; I was just bullshitting! I had no idea of how you were supposed to take over.'  
><em>'Baaroo,' Shinichi smiled as he got up and went to get ready for the heist.

* * *

><p>The detective had been laughed at when he handed the heist note over to Nakamori, but Hakuba had agreed with Shinichi and together they had argued about its meaning until they'd deciphered it. The worst part was when someone had leaked the note to the press and Shinichi had a hunch that it was Ryota, but there was no evidence since the note had been copied and anonymously sent to a newspaper as a letter. Shinichi had immediately been swarmed by reporters the very next day, and been forced to laugh it off as a joke while they bombarded him with questions. Even though he had an answer for everything they kept ambushing him by his school, until he scaled the wall after school in order to avoid them and realised that he actually understood his parents' behaviour; he was becoming like them.<p>

* * *

><p>Shinichi accepted the blue sapphire as Nakamori handed it to him with a disapproving grunt. The Dark Vivaldi, also known as The Blue Fire, which was displayed at the Ekoda Museum of Art, was said to be cursed and burn down every building it was brought into. The detectives had deciphered that Kaitou KID would show up that next Sunday due to his mention of 'the day of rest', while 'classical music', 'define the solo form of concerto' and 'the changing of the created season' let them know that he would appear at 17.33.30, given that Vivaldi created his concerto 'The Four Seasons' in 1723 and the first season changed after 10 minutes and 30 seconds.<p>

Hakuba, after glaring at Shinichi's completely purple-free hair, had commented that; 'Kudou should protect it since he's a magician' just after they had solved the note. Everyone had stared at Shinichi in confusion while Hakuba leered at him; the Brit knew that putting him in the direct path of KID could only bring embarrassment to him, and Shinichi hadn't been aware that he was constantly making coins and other small objects, like pencils and erasers, appear and disappear while he thought about the note. And since none other than Nakamori was willing to protect the jewel from the thief's greedy paws they had all agreed; the Detective of the East was going to guard it.

Shinichi stared up on the skylight; the day was getting darker, but it was no way that moonlight would fall through the window during the heist so that meant that KID had given him information about which way he would enter. The detective stifled a yawn and went to the restrooms, where he splashed water in his face.

'Pandora,' he grumbled and glared at his own image; he wasn't looking tired, but he felt like death wasn't far away, 'whatever you do; never take over our body during the night. It's supposed to rest.' The detective stared at the stalls behind him while he waited for an answer; he was alone in the restroom. 'Pandora?' he waited some more and sighed in annoyance. 'Pandora!' he called out in thought but received no answer, so he walked into one of the stalls and seated himself cross-legged on top of the toilet after locking the door. He closed his eyes and calmed his breathing as he tried to sink into a waken slumber, but every noise made him twitch slightly; he didn't want to fall asleep.

Shinichi looked around in the red room; he was standing in the library, where he'd been last time and he made his way to the desk. There were books with the glowing red writing opened on it but no Pandora.  
>"Pandora!" he called out and then searched the house. Shinichi quickly found the gem and glared at the curled up person on the bed.<br>"Pandora!" Shinichi shook his head in annoyance as Pandora woke up.  
>'<em>What?'<br>_'You traitor, you're sleeping when I'm forced to stay awake! I've been up for _days _before, but I've never felt this tired! When our body is resting it's resting and neither of us is allowed to use it! Or maybe it's you who's making me tired,' Shinichi sighed and opened his eyes.  
>'<em>Sorry, I got exhausted from controlling the body. I don't even have the strength to move right now,'<em> the jewel yawned sheepishly and went back to sleep.

Shinichi's muscles felt stiff as he moved and he looked at the watch; one hour had gone by, which meant that he'd fallen asleep for a while. After he'd made sure that no one was inside the restroom he got out from the stall and started washing his face again, knowing that someone would be looking for him by now, and right on cue Hakuba opened the door.  
>"Where have you been?" the Brit raised an eyebrow and Shinichi sent him a glance.<br>"I've been around," the detective answered avoiding, "and I hid the sapphire."  
>"So no one but you knows where it is?" Hakuba smiled, hoping that the thief would humiliate Shinichi thoroughly for not telling him how he got the slime out of his hair.<p>

* * *

><p>Kaito was frustrated; he'd seen Meitantei-san receive the blue sapphire, but he'd been forced to patrol the corridors, and then the detective had been gone for a while, only to show up from the restrooms to announce that he hid the jewel somewhere. Kaito spent the remaining time studying him and trying to figure out where he hid it, but wasn't able to so he only had one option left; trickery.<p>

* * *

><p>At exactly 17.33.30 the lights went out and Shinichi took a harder grip around the target as the darkness pressed against his eyes. No light entered the room, not even from the skylight, but then the room suddenly came alive as candles flared up everywhere around them.<br>"Where is he?" Nakamori roared and glared around the room, but then eyed at the small table, set for two, which had appeared in front of the display case. There was silence for a moment until the song started playing from everywhere; it was perfectly loud as background music and Shinichi realised with a smirk that the thief had jumped over the first season; spring and gone directly to summer. The detective glanced towards where he knew that the thief would appear and watched how he fell from seemingly nowhere.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! Welcome!" KID grinned as he stood up.  
>"Get him!" Nakamori hollered and the thief threw his arms out as the taskforce made a jump for him. Smoke exploded everywhere and Shinichi saw his opportunity. He opened the beige egg and threw it where he knew Hakuba stood. When the smoke cleared the taskforce was completely gone and Hakuba was covered in purple slime. KID grinned towards the Brit; he'd finally gotten his confirmation on where the unwanted bombs came from, since it was impossible for any taskforce member to have done it, it only left a <em>very<em> naughty Meitantei-san.

Shinichi smiled and met the thief's eyes; he seemed to enjoying something tremendously when pulled up the blue sapphire from nowhere, "I found something peculiar, might this be yours?" Shinichi smirked and consciously moved his left hand a centimetre towards his left pocket and saw how the thief's poker face sharpened at the movement.

"No, of course not," Shinichi answered steadily and KID made the gem to a blue rose.  
>"The only reason you could know that this jewel is fake, is because you never hid it in the first place. You are still carrying it on you," the thief bowed slightly, holding into the edges of the mantle and spreading it out behind him. Shinichi's breath caught in his chest when what seemed like moonlight illuminated the thief and he felt himself feeling sorry for the sleeping gem; he couldn't even describe the beauty of the moment. KID must have planned to look astounding.<br>"May I have this dance," KID asked and started to walk towards Shinichi. They circled each other, illuminated by the spreading moonlight and KID made a grab for the gem in his left pocket while Shinichi avoided him.

He closed a pair of cuffs on KID's wrist but found his hand locked in the thief's. KID grinned as the detective became trapped against his chest. The moonlight caused the monocle to reflect it all and hide his face in shadows and then the thief spun him around. Shinichi gasped; they were dancing. His brain went into a state of shock as the thief used his attempts to get away to make him dance. The helpful logical part of his brain told him that KID was only teasing him for the media's sake and that he wasn't interested in him, yet.

Shinichi blinked confused when KID released him after spinning him around and wobbled a few steps, until he collapsed on the floor. His entire world was whirling, and he was pretty sure that it wasn't only the spinning at the end of the dance that made him this light-headed. Shinichi rubbed his eyes, feeling the gem at the end of his sleeve and then focused on the thief that had taken a seat by the table, studying the jewel with a disgruntled look and drinking a glass of what seemed to be wine, but Shinichi doubted that it was.

"This is a good fake," he smiled calmly and eyed the dazed detective on the middle of the floor.  
>"Thank you," Shinichi muttered, blinking as he tried to regain his sense of balance and stood up, "stealing from thieves is what I love the most, but be careful; it's not a game." The thief's eyes widened and he grinned in amusement.<br>"It's a passion that has to be controlled," KID continued and the wine glass disappeared as he got up, "I never expected to hear you the Modern Holmes say anything like that. I never suspected that you were a fan of Arsène Lupin either." The thief hummed in interest and started to circle Shinichi, carefully observed by Hakuba, who was frozen in the corner because of the hardened purple slime.  
>"I'm not. But the question you want an answer to is; where is the real one?" Shinichi smirked and held up a sapphire. He flicked his other wrist and held up another jewel. Shinichi closed his hands and the jewels were gone.<p>

Kaito grinned; he'd been waiting for Meitantei-san to bring our some of his 'Imposter-magic' given that any kind of magician would want to either see Kaitou KID perform magic or try to outwit him with their own, and Kaito was happy that his new detective went with the second choice; it made heists more fun. He grinned and the detective studied his every move, causing him to shiver in anticipation. Meitantei-san's eyes glittered while his smile and calm demeanour told him that the detective would do everything in his power to win. They circled each other in remembrance of the game they played during the staged heist and the thief eyed the shoes and belt; the detective was wearing adult versions of Tantei-kun's gadgets this time.

Shinichi smiled and pulled out the four fakes he had. He made them disappear while watching the thief follow them with his eyes and then threw one of them high into the air. KID had been focusing on the sapphire and reflexively followed it with his eyes. Shinichi made a run for him and cuffed one arm as he grabbed into it, but when he twisted it behind the thief's back it came off and he stared dumbfounded on it. KID grinned and before Shinichi knew it he was tied up, hanging in the air just over the floor with his arms above his head. The thief hummed to the song as he searched the detective's pockets and pulled out the four replicas.

"Fake, fake, fake, fake," KID stated as he examined the sapphires and then tilted his head while grinning mischievously, "do I have to get you naked?" Shinichi gasped and sent the Brit a glance, wishing that he wasn't there to witness everything.  
>"But it's only the third date," Shinichi blurted out and the thief examined his ankles; if they had been alone he'd definitely would have said something more suggestive, "as you so delightfully wrote in your heist note."<br>"Yes," KID smirked as he brushed his hands over the detective's chest, checking for hidden pockets, and Shinichi was greatly relieved that he and Pandora had come to an agreement, otherwise he'd been thoroughly embarrassed by now, "and that would mean that I get to kiss you before this heist ends." Shinichi stared frozen at him, trying to see if the thief was joking, since KID might actually be insane enough to do it, but the thief's poker face was impeccable and Shinichi couldn't tell if he was serious.  
>"Ooh~, no comeback," the thief said gleefully and then found the real sapphire inside his sleeve, "bingo!"<p>

The detective rolled his eyes when Kaito mockingly held the jewel in front of his face and the thief couldn't help but to smile; Meitantei-san had a constant blush, which made him look ridiculously adorable.  
>"Thank you for a lovely date, Meitantei-san, I had fun," he smiled fondly and gently grabbed into the confused teenager's chin. Kaito didn't know why de did it or what made him do it, but when his lips touched the detective's warm cheek in a tender kiss he realised that he would need to restrain some of his spontaneity, because it didn't look good when Kaitou KID flirted with a male detective like he flirted with his female fans. Kaito grinned when he saw the look of his detective; Meitantei-san looked completely shell-shocked and it was somehow very gratifying to see his face rise in colour.<p>

"See you around," Kaito placed a blue rose behind the detective's ear and pulled out his card gun when he walked to the window facing his fans. He dropped a smoke bomb and while he was hidden in the cloud he fired a card so that it cut the lines holding the taskforce in the ceiling, causing them to slowly move downwards, and then escaped through the window.

* * *

><p>Kudou sighed and Saguru sent him a glance; after Nakamori had cut him down he'd poured alcohol over the Brit causing the purple slime to become porous and dust-like. Saguru had been more grateful than he'd admitted and he felt bad about hoping that Kuroba would embarrass him after what the thief had actually done. The blonde gave the dark haired teenager another calculating scan when they got out from the building, confirming that he was still blushing.<p>

"Hey, don't worry about it," Saguru said quietly and patted the other's shoulder.  
>"I lost the jewel in less than five minutes," Kudou muttered and the Brit raised an eyebrow.<br>"_That's_ what you're worrying about?" Saguru lowered his voice and continued, "not about what KID did to you?"  
>"I'm going to pretend that it never happened," the detective muttered and his blush deepened, "and double my efforts to catch him." Saguru unnoticeably tensed, understanding that he would need to study the Detective of the East further, and find out what kind of plans he could come up with.<br>"Are you free from school?" he asked and Kudou smiled.  
>"Yes, but only three days, why?"<br>"Would you go to lunch with me? And we can discuss ways to capture KID," Saguru smiled, "two heads are, after all, better than one."  
>"Sure I'd love to, it'll be great to work with you," the Detective of the East answered smiling and his phone started ringing.<p>

"Kudou-kun, go home," Haibara ordered him the moment he answered and Shinichi raised an eyebrow.  
>"Why?"<br>"You used one of those eggs and then the alcohol, right?"  
>"Yes, why?"<br>"There's a side effect to the cure, which I discovered by a fluke. You have to get home, otherwise you might end up in a whole lot of trouble," Haibara informed quickly.  
>"What kind?" he whispered and felt how anxiety twisted his stomach; if he turned back into Conan in front of everyone he would be completely destroyed.<br>"I'll examine you tonight, experiment on you in the morning and then do regular checkups during the day," she informed him and hung up.  
>"Why can't she stop doing that?" Shinichi muttered while he glared at the phone and Hakuba eyed him in interest.<br>"So, lunch on Tuesday?" the Detective of the East asked smiling and the blonde Brit agreed.


	38. APTX 421 and Alcohol

A/N: Next chappie, here you go!  
>There's nothing as good as a high-quality thunderstorm go get rid of any though of sleeping...<br>Yeay! I got into college! And now I'm completely terrified... D:

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

Uploaded: 2012-07-14  
>Revised: 2014-09-16<br>Chapter rating: K+  
>Words: 4,000<p>

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><p><strong>Chap. 38<br>APTX 421 and Alcohol**

Kaito smiled as he threw the blue jewel up into the air and watched how it glistened in the warming sunlight; it wasn't Pandora, not that he expected it to be, but it was still beautiful. The thief had decided to begin going after green emeralds since that was the kind of jewel his replica was, but when he was doing reconnaissance the sapphire had made his fingers tingle; he really needed to get it and hold it, so he'd gone after it. Kaito was lying in the sunlight that fell in through his bedroom window, holding the jewel in the air and watched its every detail. If he didn't know better he'd say that he'd fallen in love with the item, but that was absurd. The magician twitched when the alarm on his clock came on and sent it a cheery look as he got up and turned it off; it was time to pay Meitantei-san a visit, and this time he wouldn't give up, not even if he was forced to annoy the detective for days and wake him up every few minutes during the night.

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><p>When he entered through the window he found the detective sleeping on the red, and longer than usual, settee in the library. Kaito grinned amused as he studied Meitentei-san; he looked peaceful and innocent, not like a person who could solve cases by phone or dodge bullets, and the book lying on the floor showed that he'd fallen asleep while reading. The only change inside the room was the headlines on the school books on the desk together with a very small half-filled glass bottle, which couldn't contain more than three decilitres when full. Kaito picked it up and raised an eyebrow after he read the label; <em>"Reflected Light"<em>. Intrigued, he opened it and carefully smelled it; alcohol, and then he realised what it was. Reflected light, moonshine. Had the detective been drinking? Kaito turned towards the sleeping owner and tilted his head; he might be more prone to tell him things if he was drunk and speaking with a friend.

The thief disguised himself and walked up to the detective.  
>"Oi, sleepy-head, wake up," Kaito grinned at Shinichi as he stirred in his slumber and turned around. Kaito tilted his head and studied where the cut had been on his chin.<br>"It healed nicely," he mumbled and traced the jaw with two fingers when a thought hit him; the detective almost died for him. If he had moved a bit slower or discovered it a millisecond too late the bullet would have travelled through his head. Kaito shivered; that was a scene he never wanted to see  
>"Oi! Wake up!" he called out louder and shook him. Shinichi woke up and smiled a drowsy grin.<br>"Hattori!" he said happily and yawned, "wha're you doin' in Tokyo?"  
>Kaito seated himself beside 'his friend' on the settee; messing with an intoxicated detective would be fun.<p>

"Ya' know, I had a case here an' decided ta come by an' check up on ya'! Just to see how ya're doin'," Kaito explained and studied the Detective of the East; he was definitely drunk. "How many bottles of that 'Reflected Light' did ya' drink?"  
>"The wha'?" Shinichi frowned and seated himself. He hummed as he thought. "Oh, right. That!" He grinned and swayed a bit as he stood up, "I had, one, two, no, a half decilitre of it!" Shinichi walked up to the bottle and held it out towards him. "Want some?"<br>"No, thank ya'," Kaito answered with a frown; it was impossible that the detective had only had one or two decilitres the way he was slurring and moving.  
>"Why did ya' drink moonshine?"<br>"Oh, 'cause Haibara said so, and you do what she says, 'cause otherwise you'll do it anyway, wait that doesn't make any sense," Shinichi said quickly and almost slurred the words together. He frowned and blinked for a while, and Kaito waited patiently. "What was I saying?"

Kaito felt his mouth twitch in amusement as he walked up to the desk where Shinichi still tried to remember; the normally intelligent detective had become very slow.  
>"Could I taste that?" Kaito asked after he changed his mind and the detective handed over the bottle. The thief deadpanned after he tasted it; it was very weak, the detective would have to drink a whole bunch of bottles in order to get drunk.<br>"There's no way that ya' only drank a few decilitres of this!" Kaito stated and Shinichi shook his head.  
>"I can't drink, even after a mouthful of alcohol I get drunk and after a little more I pass out," the detective explained with an airy wave of his hand and yawned, "It's 'omething with the an'idote, since that's wha' it was based on. Ma body can't handle it. Want coffee?" Shinichi turned on his heel and started to walk towards the kitchen followed by a smiling Hattori.<p>

"So," Kaito began as he sat down on a chair beside the kitchen table, "how many people know what Conan-kun's real name is?"  
>"Same as before, with the exception from James-san and Jodie-sensei, they saw me durin' the take down," Shinichi slurred with his back towards him and Kaito frowned; it didn't sound like the question and answer were related, and the detective was drunk so that might even be the case, "an' I'm considering tellin' Ran the truth, but I'm afraid that that would destroy the little friendsh-ship we have left."<br>"What truth?" Kaito asked and decided to go wherever the detective's ramblings led them, as long as they didn't get out of hand.  
>"About everything," he sighed and Kaito felt how his annoyance grew; couldn't he come with clear answers?<br>"About everything?" Shinichi nodded at Kaito's question, still with his back facing the magician, "what would tha press say if ya' told them tha truth?"  
>"I've no idea, but I'd be locked up in a mental facility for sure!" the detective chuckled amused.<br>"Yea, ya' would," Kaito agreed without knowing what he was agreeing to.  
>"I mean, who would believe something like that?" Kaito felt his eyebrow twitch; he wanted to know <em>what<em> _truth_.  
>"Oh, yea, I wasn't really working with the FBI in the beginning; I was just chasing the 'Men in Black' who shrunk ma body. You know, the child called 'The KID-killer', which is an<em> incredibly stupid nickname. <em>I didn't _kill_ anyone," Shinichi was waving his hands and emphasised on different words, "Yea, Edogawa Conan, that's me. Why I didn't come up with a better name? That's none of your business. I moved in with the lousy-disgusting-drunkard loser-detective Mouri Kogoro because I wanned to find information on the 'Men in 'lack', but he was so useless that he didn't get any clients an' I had to put him to sleep for his own good, giving him the name Sleeping Kogoro," Kaito gaped as Shinichi snorted at his own speech, "how fast would they deem me as crazy?"  
>"Immediately," Kaito answered steady; he'd considered that Tantei-kun was Meitantei-san, but blown it off as impossible, so how was it possible? He had to examine it closer.<p>

"So, you an' KID actually slept in the same bed?" Kaito asked, thinking back on the memory of when he had found the child in the dark alley. Shinichi tensed and Kaito bit his tongue when the detective turned around to stare at him.  
>"How did you know that?" the detective asked surprised.<br>"KID told me," Kaito stated confidently, and Shinichi stared at him for a while, but then shrugged.  
>"Okay... Stupid thief," Shinichi said flimsy and Kaito snickered inside his head; the detective was really drunk if he didn't pick up on that!<br>"I can't believe that APTX 4869 actually shrinks people," Kaito mumbled loudly enough for the other teenager to hear and Shinichi nodded.  
>"Yea, it's like it's taken out of a movie," the detective answered and Kaito cheered on the inside. The thief filed away the facts for later examination and focused on the task of coaxing more information out of him as Shinichi handed him a cup of black coffee. Kaito stared down on it, whishing that the bitter liquid was somewhere else, but he knew that he would have to drink the awful oil.<p>

"Ooh! That's right!" Shinichi suddenly snickered loudly and Kaito sent him a glance, "I got a flower from KID! Look-look!" The teenager pushed the small vase with a blue rose, which stood on the table, towards the thief and started ranting quickly. "Isn't it beautiful? I wonder how he got the colour; is it tinted? Or genetically altered? I mean, natural roses lack the pigment that produces blue colour. Do you think he carries an arsenal of roses on him? He has to, he uses them a lot. Do you think he has couple of every colour or simply selects a few colours? But if the blue rose is genetically altered; did he buy it or grow it himself? Or did he simply colour a white rose? In any case, why blue? Blue means mystery, impossible and unattainable. A person who receives the blue rose is the subject of much speculation and thought; is KID thinking about me? Another meaning of the blue rose is that it symbolises the impossible, or the unattainable, and I can't decide it that's good or bad. The blue rose is admired and revered as an unrealisable dream, does KID like me? Or did he simply give me a blue rose because the sapphire was blue?" Shinichi suddenly froze in his movement after he tilted his head with a frown and stared motionless into the wall as he thought of the meaning of the blue rose, while Kaito only blinked in confusion; he'd barely been able to understand the other.

"Eh?" Kaito made a noise and the detective stopped staring and gave the thief his attention, "I think it was because of tha colour of tha jewel."  
>"But that's so boring," Shinichi whined and pouted, "you know, blue is my favourite colour, but Ran thinks it's red, 'cause I told her that it was, 'cause red is <em>her<em> favourite colour, but when I think red I think of blood." The detective made a slight pause to draw new air and Kaito had deemed that the ramblings had gone far enough so he cleared his throat.

"That takedown of tha DO, how did ya' know that they would come after Pandora?"  
>"Dad and KID told me not too long ago actually," Shinichi stared into his coffee cup with a small smile and Kaito tensed.<br>"What did they tell ya'?" the thief asked and barely dared to breathe.  
>"Nothing important!" Shinichi stated with a grin as he drank the last of his coffee and Kaito wanted nothing more than to strangle him in frustration.<br>"Oh, come on," he said instead with a smile, "ya' can tell me!"  
>"Okay," the detective smiled and Kaito pretended to sip his coffee as he waited for the detective to finish pouring himself some more.<p>

"KID stole Pandora from the Black Organisation, ten years ago," Shinichi began explaining slowly and leaned forward, "this caused Whisky to fake his own death and leave the organisation. Whisky didn't know who stole it or what it looked like, so he naturally approached the greatest and most famous thief, the one who could get in everywhere and wasn't afraid of a challenge," Kaito leaned forward in curiosity; this part he'd never heard. "Anyway, Whisky found KID before a heist and asked him to work for him, since he could pay _a lot_, but KID was honourable and always returned the things he stole so he naturally refused Whisky's offer. Whisky became angry. I was there that heist, I chased KID up to the roof and I stood on a crate as he crouched down to speak with me. I saw Whisky in the shadows by the fire escape. I saw the gun he was holding and I jumped just before he pulled the trigger. That's when my memories get fuzzy, and I only remember the first part 'cause dad told me what KID told him happened. I was shot while I protected KID," the detective smiled when he stood up and pulled up his shirt to Kaito's confusion. "Here's where I was shot," Shinichi stated with a grin and pointed to a tiny round scar in his torso, "and KID told me about the DO, who was after Pandora, just after I broke up with Ran."

"That's something I've never heard before," Kaito mumbled while the detective sat down again.  
>"She still won't speak to me," Shinichi stated almost immediately after Kaito, and the thief stared at the detective in confusion.<br>"Who?"  
>"Ran!" the detective stated like it was obvious, "she doesn't understand that I was hurt too, or how painful it was to break up with her. I understand that she's angry, but I still wonder how long she'll give me 'the silent treatment'. She's together with someone she likes, and-I, and-I," Shinichi bit his lip and stared at the thief for a while, making Kaito nervous, and then sighed frustrated.<br>"I think I'm gay," the detective declared and Kaito gaped; that wasn't something that he'd ever expected coming from the detective's lips, but he was a gentleman, so he wouldn't reveal it to anyone, "no, I'm not gay! I was in love with Ran, but now… I'm bi, definitely." The detective gasped and slapped a hand over his mouth, realising what he'd said.  
>"Oi, Hattori, you don't have anything against homosexuals, or bisexuals, do you?" Shinichi asked suspiciously and nervously scratched his neck.<br>"No. Ya' aren't in love with me, are ya'?" Kaito asked with a small smirk.  
>"No, not you," the detective stated faintly and grew distant while he stared out the window and a thought struck the thief; Meitantei-san had flirted with Kaitou KID, invited the thief to his home and spoke of him highly using words like 'great' and 'honourable'.<br>"It's not Kaitou KID, is it?" Kaito asked smugly, and a bit interested, but the detective was only staring into the distance with a small smile.  
>"Oi, Kudou! Are ya' in love with Kaitou KID?" The detective blinked at him and then laughed.<br>"According to the media I am!" he cackled and Kaito sighed; of course the detective wasn't in love with him. The thief was strangely disappointed, since it would have been flattering if he'd managed to make a detective fall for him, and a _male_ detective at that.

"Do ya' know where Pandora is?" the thief asked when Shinichi quieted down and the detective nodded.  
>"Where is it?" Kaito asked eagerly and Shinichi shook his head.<br>"Nope, can't tell you; _it's a secret_, but I can say that the light of day won't touch its surface again," Shinichi grinned happily while he drank more coffee and didn't notice that the other deadpanned. Kaito kept trying to coax more information about Pandora out from him, but he kept answering with 'it's a secret' or some absurdity like 'here's where it is, and there's where it's not' while snickering.  
>"Wouldn't that mean that Pandora is always moving around, since it's never 'there' but always 'here', unless you're speaking out of Pandora's perspective?" Kaito asked in the end and the detective perked up.<br>"Maybe, possibly, probably," Shinichi grinned mischievously and the thief sighed; the detective was strange when drunk.  
>"Does Pandora move?"<br>"Yes, but not always," the detective answered with a smug smirk.

"Are you the guardian of Pandora?" Kaito asked and Shinichi frowned at the question as he realised that the only ones who knew about that was his parents, Haibara and KID. And Hattori was acting strange.  
>"There's something that I have to check, wait here," the detective mumbled and left the kitchen. Kaito shook his head and followed him immediately. The thief clicked his tongue and raised an eyebrow once the detective began crawling around on the library floor, but then picked up the book from where it had fallen and seated himself on the settee, staring blankly on his guest.<p>

"Forgot what ya' were doing?" Kaito asked grinning and the detective shook his head with a goofy grin.  
>"How long did it take you to learn how to walk in high heels?"<br>Kaito frowned; that was absurd. He felt like his head was about to explode from the many strange things he'd found out; the Detective of the East, shrunken to Tantei-kun, and de-shrunken, was in love with a man and knew where Pandora was, while the Detective of the West was a drag queen? This day was too weird, and the only missing would be Hakuba snapping and deciding that _he_ was Kaitou KID and begin stealing.  
>"KID-chan~, it's rude to trick me into revealing personal information when you're pretending to be someone I trust, so why not answer such an innocent question?" the detective smirked smugly and Kaito blinked as he ignored the changed honorific and then recognised the smirk as the one he'd dubbed Tantei-kun's 'I know who you are'-smile. The thief laughed; that's right, he was sometimes in drag. Kaito switched into his KID outfit and hid behind his poker face.<p>

"It seems like my new detective Meitantei-san is merely my grown up Tantei-kun," Shinichi nodded at his statement, "when did you know that it was me?"  
>"When you started to ask about the guardian of Pandora I took a look at your eyes; Hattori doesn't have indigo eyes, and then I looked on the floor. You left a dirt trail from the window," the detective suddenly pouted, "now I have to clean."<br>"Not before that?"  
>"No, and in my defence; I'm drunk, and you're <em>mean<em>," Shinichi stuck his tongue out, causing the thief to laugh again; he'd never seen the detective so childish, but then a thought of someone else that didn't act childish struck him.  
>"Oi-oi! Don't tell me that Science-san is also like you!"<br>"Yea, she is! She's one year older than us."  
>"Us? Do you even know how old I am?"<br>"I meant me! But you're still around our age!"  
>"Our?"<br>"I meant Haibara and my age! I'm not talking about Pandora, damn it!" Shinichi answered frustrated and ruffled his hair while Kaito blinked confused; he didn't understand how 'our' translated to Shinichi and a jewel. The detective shook his head and then grinned.  
>"How long did it take for you to learn how to walk in high heels?" he asked again and Kaito frowned.<br>"That's what you want to know? Not; who are you?"  
>"I've already told you before! I don't want you in prison! Whose heists am I going to go to in order to amuse myself if you're in prison? But that doesn't mean that I won't give it everything I got!" the detective asserted proudly and Kaito smiled; Meitantei-san really was everything a Kaitou could wish for.<br>"You'll have to continue to get away from me, otherwise you'll be boring and I won't play," Shinichi said quieter while frowning, and then hissed in pain as he sank to the floor.  
>"Are you alright?" the thief asked concerned and walked up to Shinichi, who dug his hands into his hair.<br>"It hurts!" he cried out as Kaito crouched beside him, "it hurts so much!" The thief placed a comforting hand on the detective's shoulder and then carefully caressed his back, uncertain where the pain came from or if he would harm him more with his actions. Slowly the detective's whines became a slow panting.

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><p>"Is the pain going away?" Kaito whispered while he sat with the rolled up person in his lap, watching how Shinichi grabbed into his hand and squeezed it painfully.<br>"It's still the same, I'm just getting used to it," the detective forced out from gritted teeth.  
>"Where does it hurt?" he murmured and protectively held the detective.<br>"Everywhere," the quiet answer came back and the teenager slowly relaxed once Kaito began to stroke his back again.  
>"I'm assuming that this has something to do with the antidote," Kaito murmured and Shinichi winced quietly.<br>"It does," a loud female voice said from the doorway, making both of them twitch.  
>"Science-san," Kaito said carefully as he observed the cold-eyed girl, who smirked in amusement, "how long have you been there?"<br>"Approximately ten minutes, or ever since you pulled him up in your lap, Kaitou KID-san," Haibara stated as she came walking towards them, "I was caught up in analysing his blood, so I was late."

The child in a lab-coat restrained the blood flow to Shinichi's arm, cleansed the crock of his arm with a small cotton swab and pulled out an empty syringe while ignoring the thief. The detective twitched in pain and gritted his teeth when she stuck it into his arm and took a blood sample.  
>"Can't you be more careful?" Kaito asked annoyed and the girl gave him a firm gaze, studying him methodically. The thief didn't show how uncomfortable he was with the way she looked at him, instead he held his eyes steady.<br>"Interesting," she murmured and pulled out the needle while the thief grew confused, "maybe he isn't as dense as I thought."  
>"What's your real name?" Kaito asked in interest while trying to ignore the discomfort he felt and she gave him a cold glare.<br>"It figures that you'd show up once I was experimenting on him, and of course he'd have to tell you everything he knows," Haibara muttered annoyed and pulled out another syringe, but this one had a fluid in it, "I'm not telling you and he's not telling you. My old identity is dead, and I have nothing to return to."  
>"Oh, sorry I asked," Kaito said and saw how she jabbed the detective with the needle, causing him to grab hard into the thief's arm which his head was resting on. Once the syringe was empty the child pulled it out and Kaito felt how the detective's grip loosened while his breathing became deep and steady.<br>"Be a sweetie and put him to bed, will you?" Haibara smirked and left him with a sleeping detective in his arms.

Kaito smiled warmly at Shinichi while he carried him to his room; he'd finally found out why he wasn't able to find the detective when the child was around, and that also explained why the little brat was able to find him so quickly every time he disguised as Kudou Shinichi. The thief changed the detective's clothes in a puff of smoke and seated himself beside the sleeping teenager once he'd pulled the cover over him. Kaito smiled and brushed a lock of hair away from his face while his eyes studied the detective's face; they were very similar, even though Kaito still had an, ever so slightly, more feminine jaw line. Shinichi had thinner lips and another shape of his eyes; Kaito remembered them to be narrower, but that might be because the detective was always looking at everything with suspicion.

Kaito had seen him glare at a cup of coffee once in a café and then refused to drink it. Soon after, a person had died and it had turned out that the waitress had killed a man that was stalking her and breaking into her apartment. It was cyanide poisoning, and the detective's cup had also been toxic; his presence alone had made her frightened and she tried to kill him with the only purpose of self-preservation. Kaito shook his head as he began to feel irate for some reason while thinking of the memory.

The thief began humming as he tilted his head thinking. He was pleased that it wasn't a child that had outsmarted him, but a teenager, and he could see the many similarities between his young and old detective, but then he suddenly understood why the girl had drugged him to sleep; she didn't want Shinichi to tell him any more secrets. Kaito groaned in annoyance after he realised that he'd failed once again to get information about Pandora and that the next time would be harder, if not completely impossible.

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><p>AN: Shinichi is actually referring to himself and Pandora as 'us' and 'our' here.


	39. One Problem, Two Problem, Heart Problems

A/N: Okay, what does people say when they want to pay after eaten dinner? Tab, bill, note, check?  
>This chapter was really hard to write since I wanted time to pass, and I think it came out a little bit weird... o.O''<p>

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

Uploaded: 2012-07-19  
>Revised: 2014-09-16<br>Chapter rating: K+  
>Words: 3,800<p>

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><p><strong>Chap. 39<br>One Problem, Two Problems, Heart Problems**

Shinichi groaned as he woke up with the worst headache he'd ever had.  
>"Good morning," Haibara said and the detective glared at the child sitting by the side of his bed, not caring how long she'd watched him sleep, "how much do you remember from yesterday?" Shinichi sighed and thought back on the day.<br>"I remember everything, up until I went to bed after the heist," he answered in a weak voice and massaged his forehead when he sat himself up, "do we really have to experiment today? I'm not feeling so good."  
>"You remember the heist yesterday?" the faux child asked in suspicion.<br>"Yes,"  
>"What's your name?<br>"Kudou Shinichi,"  
>"What day is it?"<br>"Monday,"  
>"Wrong," Haibara answered amused, "it's Tuesday. It seems like you lost the entire day."<br>"What?"  
>"We've already done the experimenting. The short version goes like this; I gave you around a decilitre of a 2% alcohol solution and you passed out on the settee. A gentleman in white came by and I'm guessing that you told him about the Apoptoxin, since he was talking about the cure and then asked about my real name, but I don't know how much you told him." Shinichi stared at her in horror; what had he said to the thief? Had he told him about Pandora? His feelings? Had he attacked him? Touched him inappropriately? Pandora? Shinichi blinked in confusion and felt a bit lonely.<br>'Pandora?'  
>"Pandora's not answering," Shinichi muttered and lay down as he closed his eyes. He immediately found himself in the gem's library and saw the person lying on the floor.<p>

"Pandora!" he called out and ran to his side. Shinichi fell to his knees and shook the gem. Pandora scowled at him when he opened his eyes. "Pandora, are you okay?" the detective asked concerned and the gem blinked confused, "say something!"  
>"<em>Dolphins are the only water-living animal that has sex for simple pleasure," <em>the jewel grinned in amusement as Shinichi stared at him perplexed.  
>"Why do you know things like that?"<br>"_Because you're secretly a pervert,"  
><em>"Shut up,"  
>"<em>First you want me to talk and when I do you tell me to be quiet. You're very hard to please,"<br>_"You seem to be fine," Shinichi muttered as he sat down beside the gem, "do you remember anything from yesterday." Pandora's eyes darkened from the question and his smile vanished.  
>"<em>Not much, but I do remember the pain after you drank the alcohol and effectively made me faint, and then the agony we felt when I woke up again. It was almost like we were dying,"<em> the gem sighed and gave him a serious glance, _"I felt how the alcohol activated the toxic substances in the cure, if Haibara had given us anymore we would've died. Never drink. Ever."  
><em>"Deal," Shinichi smiled revealed and shook Pandora's hand, glad that the jewel was well.

* * *

><p>Kaito shuffled a deck of cards without making a single sound, knowing exactly where each and every card was. He smirked and sent a glance back at the Brit who was busy with taking the teacher's notes and smiled; Hakuba had begun going out on 'Catch Kaitou KID'-dates with Shinichi, and the magician found them hilarious to watch since neither of the detectives actually wanted to catch him. Hakuba obviously wanted to protect him from Shinichi, while Shinichi wanted to go to the heists for the sole purpose of entertainment, but their plans were elaborate and always had at least one escape route if neither of them messed up the plan from the start and he could only imagine what would've happened if the detectives actually were interested in catching him.<p>

Kaito had been running through every memory he had of Tantei-kun, and begun thinking of the lost child as a teenager instead, but Shinichi was much more of a challenge compared to his smaller form, since he could take over a heist and direct the officers to where he wanted them, much to Nakamori's ire. The first heist after Kaito had found out the truth about Tantei-kun Shinichi had been jumpy and in the end asked him about what had happened during the Monday. Kaito had told him everything, except the detective's confession about his sexual orientation, since he didn't want to embarrass him by telling him what he told in confidence to a 'friend'.

The thief sighed lightly as he stared out thought the window thinking about Shinichi. He'd noticed how the detective smirked during the heists, just before he made a move, and Kaito loved that smile that made him shiver; it was a promise of a challenge and a rush of adrenalin. The mere thought of him made the thief's heart beat faster and he pulled out his phone, where there was a newspaper with a challenge from Jirokichi to Kaitou KID, but instead of reading the challenge again he opened a new page, placed his headphones into his ears and listened to the Detective of the East's interview where a journalist called Kameko asked him questions about his cases and personal life.

The detective had gone from helping with one case to two or five cases each week, and he didn't even want to get paid for it. Kameko also asked if he was single and he only answered that he had a lot of things going on in his life and currently wasn't looking for a partner, but what was the most interesting part was when she started asking questions about his opinions of Kaitou KID.

"What are your thoughts of Kaitou KID? How would you describe him?" the female voice asked.  
>"Well, first and foremost I would say that he's a showman. He's theatrical, highly intelligent, likes challenges, likes to play on people's feelings, and seems to always be happy. He knows himself enough to be able to perform unbelievably dangerous stunts without too much danger. He's thorough in his investigations of people and can become any person whether they're a man or a woman. I wound think that if you are on the Kaitou KID taskforce and has a secret, KID already knows about that, and I imagine that he already knows everything that happened during my time with the FBI. Now that I think about it; he would probably make a good detective." The woman laughed.<p>

"Like you would make a good thief?" she joked and Shinichi laughed, causing Kaito to smile. It was something about that laugher that made Kaito want to grin in happiness.  
>"Oh, no. I would be caught the moment I entered the building," Shinichi asserted, but Kaito knew different; if the detective really tried he would probably become a great thief. Not as good as a crime announcing Kaitou without help, but he could probably get what he wanted.<p>

"Kaitou KID thinks highly of you, doesn't he? I mean, he calls you Meitantei, instead of Tantei."  
>"I don't know, maybe... A friend of mine used to call me Meitantei whenever I did something stupid. I hope that he isn't ironic," Shinichi joked and Kaito sighed again, still smiling happily; he didn't know how many times he'd listened to that interview, but he loved the way the detective spoke of him.<p>

"What do you think Kaitou KID's real identity is like?"  
>"Hmm, a tuff one, since I don't like to theorise without evidence," Shinichi paused for a moment, "I think he's actually younger than what everyone seems to think. Maybe lonely, given that he has a big secret that he can't let anyone know, which could force him to push everyone away or not let them close to him. Or he might have a partner who supports him. Given a consideration to the kind of traps he uses I would say that he's a trickster, or has been one; no one can come up with that kind of traps without a mischievous side. He probably is a person who cares a lot about the people around him, whether he interacts with them or not, given that he holds very hard on his 'no one gets hurt'-policy."<p>

"There have been a lot of rumours surrounding the both of you, so I have to ask; would you date someone like him?"  
>"I don't like that question," Shinichi immediately replied, "it doesn't matter what I respond; if I say 'no' people think I'm lying and if I say 'yes' it's a publicity stunt. He has an interesting personality, yes, but you have to realise that everything I just told you is what <em>I<em> think he's like, and if you ask Nakamori-keibu or detective Hakuba, you will find that their thoughts probably differ from my own. But you are essentially asking me what kind of person I would date, so I'm going to say; a kind person. Does that description fit Kaitou KID's real identity? I don't know, but probably."

Kaito listened to the interview as school ended and the students walked out into a white world; thick snow was falling, obscuring one's eyesight. The thief disguised before he exited the building and followed the blonde detective through the whirling snowflakes to wherever he would meet up with Shinichi.

* * *

><p>The thief entered the large restaurant and seated himself a small distance from both the detectives; he didn't want to be too close to them since they would be discussing their plans and it would ruin the surprise for him if he heard what they said, but he still had the trouble with his brain automatically reading their lips.<p>

"Fine weather, isn't it?" Shinichi grinned at the snow-covered detective once they sat down and the Brit sighed.  
>"Yes, really nice. I'm just happy that I didn't blow away," he stated and picked up the menu, "how's things going in school?"<br>"I finally have the same schedule as everyone else, so it goes great," Shinichi smiled and selected what he would eat, "how does it go for you?"  
>"Good, but I haven't been forced to catch up on two years of school."<br>"Yea," Shinichi mumbled and then smiled, "I read about you in the newspaper. That was a hard, high-status case you had. You solved it impressively fast."  
>"Thanks," the Brit said and smiled for the first time since he'd come inside, "how did you get away from the reporters today?"<br>"Oh, I used the snowstorm," the Detective of the East smirked, "my jacket can be turned outside in and has a different colour on the inside. I ran away from them, then changed the colour and passed them with the hood on." Hakuba chuckled at the simple trick and sent the detective an amused glance.  
>"How are things between you and Mouri-san?"<br>"Ran's mostly ignoring me, but we've started to say hello, and exchange a few words. I think that her friend hates me more than she does," Shinichi disclosed, "how about you? How are things going with your girlfriend?"  
>"Oh, she's fine, we're fine," Hakuba answered avoiding and Shinichi glanced over the menu.<br>"You haven't even told me her name," he stated, aware of the fact that the Brit would feel forced to tell him, and just like he predicted he saw how the other's eyes narrowed a little as he looked up. Shinichi forced his facial expression into an open and genuinely interested look.

"Aoko," Hakuba revealed and the Detective of the East saw how he felt uncomfortable, "Nakamori Aoko."  
>"Nakamori-keibu's daughter?" Shinichi asked, already knowing who she was.<br>"Yes," Hakuba answered and wanted a change of subject, but before he could change Shinichi spoke up.  
>"Is she anything like her father?"<br>"Yes and no, she can be loud and she has a strong sense of justice, but she doesn't curse much," the Brit smiled down at the menu while his voice grew warm, "she's really understanding and completely wonderful, and her food is to die for; she's so perfect that I don't deserve her."  
>"You know, you could bring her along," Shinichi smiled and panic flash past the other detective's face, but Shinichi pretended like he didn't see it, "it's not like I'm going to flirt with her."<br>"No, I-, I mean; sure. I'll ask her the next time," Hakuba smile strained; he would not invite Aoko. He didn't want the detective too close to him, since if Aoko showed up, Kuroba would one day follow and Kudou would probably realise who he was within minutes after meeting him. The only problem was that they had actually begun to become friends for real and Saguru wasn't sure how long he could stay close to the other without being forced to let him meet Aoko.

Shinichi frowned as he hid behind the menu; he'd already decided what he was going to eat, but now he understood that the Brit didn't want him to meet Nakamori-san for some reason, and the only reason he could think of was Kaito. Hakuba wanted to catch the thief by himself and he didn't want Shinichi to steal that fame, and that explained the friendly competition they had had during the two cases they'd got because of Shinichi's 'curse', as Megure had commented. Hakuba was evaluating him in order to decide how big of a threat he was, but if the Brit didn't let him meet Nakamori-san, how would he befriend Kaito? Shinichi bit his lip; he would have to let the him know that he wasn't a threat by allowing the other detective to solve a few cases, otherwise he would be forced to overstep the boundary for their friendship and show up at their school without an invite in order to meet Nakamori-san. He could say that he didn't want to keep them from each other and then whisper to her what Hakuba had described her like, and she would be thrilled. Who didn't want to hear their loved one describe them with the words; "Completely wonderful and so perfect that they don't deserve them"?

"Have you decided?" a waiter interrupted their thoughts and both of the detectives twitched.  
>"Yes," Shinichi answered first and ordered, unaware that the thief was watching them, since the noise around them had made Pandora unable to identify anyone.<br>Kaito stared at them in interest while he waited for his food to arrive; they were both acting very strange, throwing suspicious glances at the other and looked like they were feeling bad about it. The air around them lightened up once they started to discuss their plans and the thief ignored them to the best of his abilities after he received his food.

Halfway through the meal Kaito could tell that a heated discussion about the plan broke out between the two detectives; neither raised their voice, but both of them were leaning slightly forward and stared at the other with a hard gaze while speaking, until Shinichi relaxed and scratched his cheek, looking sheepishly while saying 'sorry, you're right'. Hakuba sighed and then smiled as he continued to speak, but Kaito immediately looked down to his food, and found it gone, so he ordered desert.

He ate the cake slowly and glanced up at his targets only to see Hakuba accidently spill out his glass of water causing Shinichi to become wet. Kaito raised a mental eyebrow; the Brit seemed strangely jumpy as he dried the black haired teenager's sleeve, while repeatedly saying how sorry he was.  
>"Hakuba," Shinichi said and grabbed into the other's wrists, "calm down; it's only water." Kaito felt how the heat of jealousy flared up from inside him from the way Shinichi smiled at the detective, and then reality hit him in his face with all of its strength. The thief swallowed thickly and watched how Hakuba sat down again, looking thoroughly embarrassed over his actions and excused himself multiple times, causing Shinichi to laugh while his eyes glittered in amusement.<p>

For once Kaito didn't know what to do; he was a thief who was having a crush on a detective, which was bad for self-preservation and freedom.  
>'But,' the little voice belonging to his feelings said in his head, 'he's bisexual so you have a chance.'<br>'However,' the logical part of him grumbled, '_the detective's_ in love with someone else, and _you_ are a criminal.'  
>Kaito bit his lip and stared down on the last piece of cake, for once in his life feeling like he didn't want it and suddenly all of his actions seemed a lot less innocent. He let the detective come close and cuff him, because he enjoyed the challenge of getting away or the intimacy? He tied up the detective and ruffled his hair, because he wanted to tease him about being Tantei-kun or because he wanted to see him tied up and to touch him? Kaito blushed; he'd kissed the detective's cheek, touched him inappropriately, even sat in his lap and whispered things in his ear. How long had he been in love and dismissed it as the spur of the moment? What did the detective think about all of his advances?<p>

'_He likes to play on people's feelings. I wound think that if you are on the Kaitou KID taskforce and has a secret, KID already knows about that,'_ Kaito blinked at the memories and ate the last piece of cake; the detective thought he knew about his bisexuality and teased him about it? That wasn't very gentleman-like. The thief sighed depressed; why did he fall in love with people he couldn't have? He would just have to hope that the crush would blow over, just like it did with Aoko after he gave up on her, and his feelings explained why the detective gave him such a rush during the heists; not only was Shinichi good at what he did, but he also had the thief's heart in his hands.

Kaito glanced up towards the detectives and blinked in confusion; their seats were empty and the detectives gone. The thief raised his arm and waved a waiter over.  
>"Could I have the check, please?" Kaito asked and sent the empty seats a glance, not understanding how he could have missed them.<p>

* * *

><p>The thief later found himself at the Kudou mansion for the simple reason that he didn't want to go home, but when the detective stretched himself after finishing his homework and opened the violin case Kaito broke into one of the guestrooms on the second floor. Silently, he made his way downstairs and listened to the melody; it was a sorrowful piece, full of pain and loneliness, and it made Kaito want to break down in tears, but he forced the feelings back as he stood on the main floor, listening closely to every note and wondering why the detective didn't play more often.<p>

The thief sneaked up to the library entrance and caught a glance of the detective with his eyes closed, playing the song to himself and Kaito felt his heart beat faster; Shinichi was so beautiful, but suddenly he tensed, stopped playing and opened his eyes.

"So, what can I do for you, KID-san?" the detective asked as if thieves showing up and interrupting his violin performances was normal.  
>"You're a good violinist. The song makes me want to curl up in my bed and cry. What is it called?"<br>"Thank you," the detective said while placing the violin back in its case and sat down behind his desk, flashing the thief a polite smile, "how may I be of service?"  
>"Not going to tell me, huh?" Kaito muttered and sighed, "I want Pandora."<br>"I don't know what you're talking about."  
>"Don't play games with me; I know that you know where it is."<br>"What do you want with Pandora?"  
>"I'm going to destroy it," Kaito asserted and the detective frowned.<br>"That's right, I forgot," it didn't sound like the detective really had forgotten, more like he just wanted to remind the thief, "do you remember what I told you as Conan?"  
>"That I can't get it without killing? There must be a way around that."<p>

"How I wish it was," the detective mumbled sadly and pulled open the drawer in the desk. Kaito tensed once he saw the revolver in the detective's hands, but knew that he would never hurt him. Shinichi stood up, holding the gun on its side with both hands and walked up to the thief. Kaito was prepared to run and he concentrated on his poker face when Shinichi handed him the gun. Confused, he took it without placing a finger on the trigger and watched in horror how the detective positioned the barrel over his own heart.

"Are you willing to pull the trigger?" Shinichi asked quietly with a determined gaze and placed both of his hands over the thief's, squeezing it lightly, "if you are, then do it. But until you are willing to kill me you're not prepared to destroy Pandora." Kaito stared into Shinichi's eyes, trying to see if it was some kind of screwed up joke from his side. They stayed like that for a moment, watching the other in silence until the detective's eyes grew warm, causing the magician's breath to catch in his chest.

"I can't kill," Kaito breathed and stared into those blue eyes, feeling how he almost swooned when the detective smiled gently; he was lost in the other's eyes while Shinichi gazed back, both lost in the feeling of love which cruised through their veins.  
>"I know, that's why I told you," Shinichi mumbled while he glanced down to the gun and their hands. When he looked back up Kaito realised that the detective could probably tell what he looked like, but he couldn't bring himself to actually care.<br>"I-," Kaito said and swallowed nervously; should he tell him? Could he tell Shinichi that he loved him?  
>"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-, I-, you make me so confused," the thief complained and sighed heavily, hearing the detective chuckle lightly as he released his grip. Kaito immediately felt the loss and glared at the gun in his hand like it was at fault while the detective returned to his desk.<p>

The thief forced out a smile before vanishing in a puff of smoke and Shinichi began reading through his homework, blushing and sending glances to his hands; had the thief begun falling for him? Or didn't he care about holding hands with a detective and a gun? The detective stared down on the paper, not really seeing it and realised that the thief probably didn't care, and even if he did it was unlikely that it would show through his poker face. Shinichi looked up, locating the revolver lying on a shelf by the books and sighed heavily; the plan was taking longer than he expected and his heart was twisting in pain every time he thought of the phantom. He really needed to pressure Hakuba into letting him meet Kaito, since he would be happy to simply be in his presence, at least for a while, but when that wasn't enough he would have future problems.


	40. Oh, Thou Cursedet One

A/N: I'm really bad with old English, so I hope that the chapter's title is right. XD  
>Look-look, an early update! It might be coming more of those since I can feel my inspiration coming back :D<br>I'm guessing that 'check' was the correct word in the last chapter.

In case anyone forgot; Fujimine Mizuki is Shinichi's female disguise.

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

Uploaded: 2012-07-23  
>Revised: 2014-09-16<br>Chapter rating: T  
>Words: 3,800<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Chap. 40<br>Oh, Thou Cursedet One**

Kaito sighed as he stared out through the window on the calm day with slowly falling snow; the strategy to ignore his feelings wasn't working, and more often than not he found himself daydreaming about the detective, even though he mentally slapped himself every time it happened. He'd had another prank-spree, which the entire school had to endure for over a week, until he realised that the pranks only made him imagine which way Shinichi would avoid them. The magician wanted the detective on his heists to make them interesting, but he also made Kaito flustered and a bit clumsy. He was actually late three minutes because he was staring at Shinichi through the cameras; unpunctual wasn't something he'd been since the beginning of his night time job, which only showed how much the detective distracted him. Not to speak about the time he tripped and tumbled down the stairs together with the detective, and then freaked out because Shinichi was bleeding from his head, insisting that they should call an ambulance and only stopped when a baseball almost decapitated him; it was only then he realised that Shinichi was fine and that it was just a small scratch.

"Kaito," a voice sang and woke him up from his fantasising and Aoko grinned at him, "you're sighing all the time and didn't even notice that it's break. Who caught your heart?" The woman smiled confidently at the blush that made its way into the dark haired magician's face and Kaito pouted; Aoko had no idea how fitting the analogy of his heart being _caught_ was.  
>"Someone I can never have," he mumbled and turned a sad gaze out through the window.<br>"BaKaito!" his friend roared, suddenly enraged but the sorrow in the teenager's voice, "why not?"  
>"Because…" Kaito mumbled and sighed, "I don't think they're interested in me, and I don't think they want someone like me." Aoko sat down on the empty seat beside him and placed an arm around his shoulders; it was obvious that the magician was very depressed by that fact.<br>"Did she say that?" she asked and he shook his head, not caring that she thought that Shinichi was a girl, "how can you then know if she likes you or not? You're BaKaito, you have the ability to both sweet-talk and persuade people to do what you want, and you _never_ give up. You should ask her out on a date."  
>"Thanks Aoko," the magician smiled at her and then looked thoughtful, "try, huh?" Kaito grinned; he was Kaitou KID, no one could resist him, not even a detective.<p>

"Now tell me," Aoko giggled, "who do you like?" A mischievous glimmer flashed thought the magician's eyes, but it was gone before anyone had seen it, and he fidgeted in nervousness.  
>"Okay," he whispered and Aoko leaned closer, "but you have to promise to not tell anyone." She nodded and he sighed as he glanced around; making sure that no one was listening in on them and then fixed her with a serious gaze. There was silence as Kaito opened and closed his mouth a few times, looking like he was trying to get the courage to tell her.<br>"Kaitou KID," he whispered and Aoko blinked in confusion, but when she gaped in shock Kaito's poker face broke and he burst out laughing, causing the young woman to grow angry as she realised that he was lying.  
>"BaKaito! That's not funny!" she yelled and picked up his English textbook so she could beat some sense into him, but the magician only laughed at her efforts.<p>

Saguru eyed them both from his seat and closed his book when Aoko yelled and started beating up the magician.  
>"Please! Aoko! I'm sorry!" Kuroba laughed manically and held up his arms in protection, "I give up!"<br>"BaKaito! I almost believed you!" the woman roared in response and kept beating him.  
>"What are you two doing?" the Saguru asked after he walked up to them.<br>"BaKaito here is in love with someone," Aoko muttered as she slammed the book into the magician's desk and the Brit raised an eyebrow, immediately thinking back to the woman who'd escaped from the hospital and had only been at one heist, Fujimine Mizuki.  
>"And he almost made me believe that it was Kaitou KID!" Aoko roared to her boyfriend who snorted amused; the thought of Kaito falling in love with himself didn't seem too farfetched for Saguru.<br>"So, you found someone crazy or someone who hates you?" he asked in interest and watched how the thief grinned.  
>"Actually, I think that they're the only one that's in between! And maybe just a tiny bit on the crazy side, or a lot," the dark haired teenager suddenly grimaced and his smile vanished, "but they're in love with someone else, and I don't know who." Saguru blinked surprised as he distinguished a genuine feeling and not a poker face.<p>

"He hasn't even asked her out on a date," Aoko mumbled and the shared hurt she felt for her childhood friend shone through the concern in her eyes and the detective sighed as he felt the need to protect her from what was hurting her.  
>"Okay," he began and chose his words carefully, "if she's aware of your wild side and still accepts you, you should tell her your feelings, but if she's really in love with someone else-," the Brit stopped for a moment. "Is she currently dating someone or has a boyfriend?" he asked in suspicion and Kaito shook his head, but then looked up at him with a frown as he realised that his love was going out on dates with the detective.<br>"If she's in love with someone else and isn't in a relation with them you could try to make her fall for you," the detective shrugged, but then noticed the look Kaito was giving him and swallowed as he shuddered; the thief glared angrily at him with ice-cold eyes and it was freaking him out.  
>"It's not Aoko, is it?" he asked and saw how confusion flashed through the magician's face.<br>"No, it's not," Kaito sighed and sent a glance out through the window.

"But speaking of dates," he began with a smug smile and looked at Hakuba with a malicious expression, "a little birdie told me that you are having an affair on Aoko."  
>"<em>What?"<em> Hakuba called out and glared at the magician, who fiercely stared back while Aoko looked in between them; confused over the change and afraid that Kaito was telling the truth.  
>"Yes," Kaito began again, "with Kudou Shinichi." Aoko glared at her friend as she heard the name, realising that he was just yanking their chain. Hakuba on the other hand looked like he wanted nothing more than to strangle the magician.<br>"I'm not having an affair with Kudou," the blonde detective stated in annoyance, "we're just talking about how we should catch KID."  
>"You're friends with Kudou Shinichi, who is the only one who ever came close to catching that stupid thief? And who brought down two evil organisations?" Aoko asked eagerly and clapped her hands in excitement, "can I meet him?" Kaito watched with glee how the Brit paled.<br>"I want to meet him too!" Kaito grinned before Hakuba had time to respond and saw how he suddenly seemed tired.  
>"What's wrong with you?!" the detective asked baffled as he stared at the thief and then dragged him away from the bench and Aoko.<p>

"Do you have a death wish?" he hissed in annoyance, "do you know how good he is at what he does? He'd _know_ the moment he met you." Kaito smirked rebelliously.  
>"Not <em>your<em> problem," he stared smugly and fixed the detective with a hard gaze.  
>"No," Hakuba said harshly, "I'm trying to protect you and you're just throwing yourself at a detective who is-," the blonde made an angry gesture and Kaito saw how it pained him to continue, "<em>better<em> than me. I can't protect you from him."  
>"I don't need your protection," Kaito asserted, but Hakuba only sighed and went back to his girlfriend, thinking that his life had gotten messed up ever since he met the thief. Kaito clicked his tongue in annoyance, knowing that he would need to meet Shinichi soon in order to keep him away from whoever he'd fallen for, but then he smirked; Aoko wanted to meet the detective, so all he would need to do was convince her to bug Hakuba and then allow himself to tag along, without the Brit's consent, but until that time Kaitou KID would need to keep Shinichi away from whoever stole his heart.<p>

* * *

><p>Shinichi frowned at the annoying music and looked around the room with a green emerald in a simple glass case, surrounded by other treasures and jewellery, guarded by eight of Nakamori's men, himself and a feverish Hakuba, who refused to go home. It was another one of those 'Keep it quiet'-heists and Shinichi had entered in a light disguise to hide from the reporters even though he'd received an invitation two weeks earlier. The owner, Hagiwara Atsushi, had only let in the few officers because of Shinichi, whom he'd been delighted to speak with and even given a room, while he'd bluntly told the inspector that if Kaitou KID wanted to borrow the emerald he'd hand him the jewel himself since the thief always returned his loot. The owner had even left a letter, addressed to Kaitou KID underneath the jewel. Hagiwara had then returned to the party at the lower floors of his hotel after telling the detective that he was more than welcome to attend after the heist.<p>

They anxiously waited for when the time of the heist came, and to everyone's confusion; passed. The thief was five minutes overdue, ten minutes and then fifteen.  
>"It's a fake," Hakuba muttered with a cough and stared at his watch, "I'm going home." Shinichi frowned and opened the glass case, knowing that it was no way that the heist note was fake since KID had handed him the note himself. Quietly he examined the jewel under strong surveillance from Nakamori.<br>"This is a fake," Shinichi stated with a sigh, "so he's already taken it, because this was real when I got here." The inspector yanked the emerald out of his grip and Shinichi sent him a glare before eyeing the letter with interest. He took it and opened it, not caring if it was the original or a replaced one.  
>"Nakamori-keibu, KID left us a message," Shinichi stated and handed over the white note with a KID caricature.<p>

"_You lost!"_ the note said while the doodle stuck out a tongue and Shinichi placed his fingers in his ears.  
>"KID!" the inspector roared, swore and ran out the door, trying to find where the thief had gone, while Shinichi frowned and walked through everything that had happened inside the room.<p>

* * *

><p>Kaito snickered as he took off his 'Ill Hakuba' disguise inside an unoccupied restroom and then seated himself cross-legged on the toilet to open the letter.<p>

"_To the Gentleman Thief KID_

_Firstly I would like to say that it is an honour to have you here, and that you can feel free to borrow any jewel you would like.  
>Secondly I invite you down to the celebration, where we are serving appetisers, drinks, and desserts. Please come as your real identity or in disguise; I have told the guards that two friends of my family will be here, one woman and one man, so you can choose either gender and no one knows what they look like.<br>Thirdly, if you choose to attend, please do not cause any disturbances; there are a lot of people on whom I depend that are present. _

_Otherwise you are greatly welcome, and your invitation card is in the envelope as well._

_Female name: Akera Kairi  
>Male name: Bunya Akio<em>

_Compliments  
>Hagiwara Atsushi"<em>

Kaito raised an eyebrow and smiled, there was one keyword that made sure that he would be going to the party; _desserts_. The thief took off most of his outfit, hid it in an air vent and then disguised. When he was done a woman in a red dress, ending just over half of his thighs with an open back and quite a large chest, beautiful makeup and amber-coloured hair, exited the restroom in high heels, just as red as the dress, and walked confidently down the corridor to the elevator.

* * *

><p>After two hours of cakes, ice cream, desserts, mingling, dancing to the music, flirting and getting hit on Kaito saw how a certain detective showed up to the party. Shinichi was dressed in a light blue shirt, dark blue tie and a black suit. His hair was perfect and he was quickly surrounded by a few guests. The thief studied him carefully, and watched how he kept his 'Charming media'-smile the entire time he spoke, but Hagiwara soon showed up and escorted him away from the vulture-like guests.<p>

"I saw that you spoke to my wife," the owner smiled at Shinichi and the detective sent him a calculating glance.  
>"Yes," he answered simply.<br>"I've heard that you are just as good as Sherlock Holmes and can tell things from a person simply by the clothes they bear. I was wondering if my wife is having an affair with another."  
>"No," Shinichi answered, "unlike you, she's faithful. She enjoys flirting with others, but she doesn't have a lover." Hagiwara eyed him suspiciously.<br>"I don't have a mistress," the man asserted strongly and the detective smirked.  
>"I don't care, and yes you do. I'm a homicide detective, I don't investigate adulterers, but I suggest that you dump your mistress, over there," Shinichi nodded towards a woman in a long red dress, that was observing them, "because she's only after your money while your wife loves you very much," Shinichi looked around and his eyes caught on the table of appetisers, suddenly realising that he was hungry.<br>"Oh, I almost forgot," the detective began nonchalantly, "your wife already knows that you're cheating on her and she's considering breaking up the marriage. My guess would be that she feels like you are tearing out her heart and stomping on it while you're spitting on her love every time you're away with your mistress."

Kaito saw how Hagiwara stopped and stared at the detective who made his way to the appetisers; the man looked mortified, but then smiled thankfully and went up to his wife to tell her the truth, ask for forgiveness and then dump the other woman.

* * *

><p>"Are you here alone?" a seductive voice asked and Shinichi turned around to face whoever was talking to him.<br>'_Ooh, mama!'_ Pandora grinned and almost drooled when they saw who spoke, _'you did not fall from heaven, dear. You were summoned from hell! You beautiful Succubus.'  
><em>"Hi," the young woman smiled and batted her eyelashes at him, "I'm Akera Kairi, you can call me Kairi." The woman giggled and Shinichi blushed.  
>"I-, Hi, hi, nice to meet you Kairi. I-, I'm Kudou Shinichi. It's a pleasure to meet you."<br>'_Smooth,'_ the gem commented amused.  
>"Would you like to dance, Shinichi?"<p>

"N-Yea-Yes, it would be a pleasure," he blushed as he offered the woman his elbow as they walked out on the dance floor, feeling how his stomach fluttered every time she smiled.

'_If you don't mess this up we're getting laid tonight!'_ Pandora grinned as they danced  
>'Shut up, I'm not cheating on Kaito,'<br>'_I was joking! Joking!'_ Pandora sighed while Shinichi swallowed nervously as he tried to ignore Kairi's breasts, which she was pushing against him, and that combined with the flirting and caressing of his back caused the detective to become hyperaware of his own body. Shinichi had never felt so torn; he wanted to flirt back and try to seduce her, but every time he thought of the idea a picture of Kaito would show up and he would feel like an awful person.

* * *

><p>"You don't like me very much, do you?" Kairi asked a bit sadly once they danced and talked for a while.<br>"No, it's not that," Shinichi said blushing, "you are very beautiful, and funny, and I bet that you are almost perfect, but I have someone I like, so I'm sorry. You seem like a great person, but I'm in love with someone." The detective seemed to lose himself in the distance while his voice grew warm and gentle. "They might not be perfect, but I can't see a single flaw. Gentle and loving, charming and noble, fascinating and ingenious, lively and untamed, intelligent and cunning, dependable. Ooh, he's divine," Shinichi sighed longingly and Kaito became flushed with jealousy; how could he possibly top that?  
>"He?" the thief asked with a raised eyebrow and Shinichi stared at him in terror, not believing that he could've let his tongue slip like that.<br>"I-, I-, I meant, she."  
>"If you don't want me to tell the press that the Great Detective of the East, Kudou Shinichi, is gay, you better tell me his name."<br>"I-," Shinichi opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, begging Pandora to help him, but only received answers like; _'say Hakuba!_' and _'say Kaitou KID! The press already believes in that one!'_, but the most stupid one the jewel could come up with must've been _'say Sherlock Holmes'._  
>"Ka-, KI-, I can't, we haven't even-, he doesn't know me and if the press gets that information he'll be stalked. I won't bring that down on him," Shinichi asserted and glared coldly, but Kaito couldn't feel anything other than happiness; he had a great chance if the detective had fallen for someone who was oblivious to his existence.<p>

"You're right. I'm sorry. I'm just really nosy; it's one of my character flaws," Kaito smiled sheepishly and saw how the detective lightened up, but not much, "you're awfully faithful to someone who doesn't love you." Shinichi made a disapproving grunt while he took another bite of food and it was obvious that he didn't want to talk anymore. "I'm also in love with someone," Kaito began with a sigh, "so I think that I understand, but he is in love with someone else and every time I meet him it's pure torture."

Shinichi glared after the woman as she left and felt how dry his mouth had become so he picked up a plastic glass and filled it with the water from a decanter. He drank deeply, unaware that someone was watching him in spite, waiting for an opportunity to drug him.  
>'<em>Spit it out!'<em> Pandora cried out as soon as he registered the alcohol the water had been spiked with. Shinichi quickly obeyed and then stood frozen, uncertain of what to do, _'clean water! Go to the restroom!'  
><em>Shinichi put down the glass and ignored the fact that he spilled it out when he walked away. As soon as he was inside the restrooms he rinsed his mouth with water and then looked up into the mirror; his vision was growing unfocused, and he began feeling lightheaded.

'Pandora, what do I do?' Shinichi asked in panic and stared into the mirror.  
>'<em>Room! Go to our room!'<em> the jewel responded quickly and the detective hurriedly made his way through the fuzzy crowds, feeling like the floor was soft as a cloud, bumping into a few people and only leaving a fast apology. Every motion was outdrawn; the world he saw was like when one moves a camera fast, it got strange and unfocused while the colours seemed to blur.  
>Shinichi pressed the button to the elevator and discreetly held a hand against the wall in order to keep his balance. The doors opened and he made his way inside, pushed the button to his floor and leaned on the wall staring at himself in the mirror; he didn't look intoxicated, slightly panicked, but not drunk.<p>

'Come on! Close faster!' Shinichi glared at the doors as his sight grew misty in the edges, and he only had one small circle he could see clearly. The doors were suddenly stopped by a hand and Shinichi wanted nothing more than to tear the hair from his head in frustration as they opened again. Something glittering red entered and he could distinguish a dress before the mist covered his entire sight and began to grow dark in the edges.  
>"Ah, Shinichi, going to your room?" someone asked smiling and he recognised a woman's voice. The other occupant of the elevator pushed the button and Shinichi straightened himself, trying to look normal and professional.<br>"Yes," he answered and was happy that he wasn't slurring, "I've been drugged." Shinichi frowned to himself; why did he say that?  
>"Oh? Is it serious?" he heard her ask while his entire sight went dark and his hearing dull.<p>

"Oi! Are you okay?"  
>"I'm fine," he mumbled and felt how the woman placed his arm around her shoulders.<p>

"I'll take you to your room," he heard in the darkness and felt how they moved while he simply hummed a reply. He couldn't feel his legs move so he was pretty sure that she was practically carrying him. Confused he wondered when they'd gotten out of the elevator; he hadn't even heard the ding.

"We're here," she whispered and Shinichi threw his arms around her neck, not knowing if she meant outside the door or inside the room.  
>"Thank you," he murmured and took a deep breath, "you smell <em>so<em> good."

"Shinichi," someone sighed in pleasure. He hummed a reply, but was only answered with lips pressed against his and he happily returned the kiss. Chocolate, he decided. Her mouth, and the tongue that twisted around his own, tasted of chocolate.

* * *

><p>Shinichi opened his eyes in confusion to see an unfamiliar ceiling; what had happened? The last thing he remembered clearly was the mirror in the restroom, while the rest of the memories were simply fuzzy sounds and sensations. Why did he awake so suddenly?<p>

"Kudou-kun?" a man's voice asked and Shinichi turned his head and gave Megure a blank expression, seeing Takagi beside him and a pale owner.  
>"Megure-keibu?" the detective asked confused while he sat up in the bed and looked around the hotel room, making sure that it really was his own.<br>"There's been a murder. Where were you between three and four last night?"

'Pandora, what happened?' Shinichi thought in dread.  
>'<em>Hah, yea, um, I have no idea…'<em> the gem mumbled sheepishly, _'I got knocked out.'_

"Ah? Between three and four, you say?" the detective ran a hand trough his hair, "I'm sorry, keibu. I have barely any memories from last night, so you have to treat me as a suspect."  
>"Kudou-kun, you are our prime suspect," the inspector admitted and Shinichi felt himself panic; that was bad, really bad, and he wouldn't be let near the crime scene because of that. How would he defend himself?<br>"We have evidence that ties you to the murder."


	41. Murder One

A/N: I seriously didn't think that the murder would take this long…

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

Uploaded: 2012-07-28  
>Revised: 2014-09-16<br>Chapter rating: T  
>Words: 4,400<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Chap. 41<br>Murder One**

Kaito felt how the detective's eyes observed him as he left and his glare seemed to burn the skin off of his bare back. The thief hid in the crowds and watched how Shinichi drank a bit of the water and then followed him as he quickly made his way to the restroom. Soon after, he came out and Kaito noted in worry that he didn't walk completely straight, immediately suspecting that the water had been spiked with alcohol.

"Ah, Shinichi, going to your room?" he asked as he entered the elevator and pushed the button to the detective's floor, while watching how Shinichi straightened himself and stared with an empty gaze straight forward.  
>"Yes," he answered and continued a few seconds later, "I've been drugged."<br>"Oh? Is it serious?" Kaito raised an eyebrow at the detective's lie and experimentally waved a hand in front of his eyes; Shinichi didn't even notice, but when he took away his hand the detective collapsed. He repeatedly tried to get up while he pushed away Kaito help, every time falling down again.

"Oi! Are you okay?" he asked worriedly when Shinichi struck his head hard into the wall and grabbed firmly into his arm, refusing to let go as they reached his floor.  
>"I'm fine," the detective answered mumbling and Kaito barely discerned his words as he placed the arm over his shoulder.<br>"I'll take you to your room," the thief stated as he took the detective along the corridor, half carrying and half dragging him.

"We're here," Kaito sighed as he closed the door and was suddenly embraced by the detective, feeling how he dug his head into the crock of his neck, causing Kaito's heart to begin racing as Shinichi's hair tickled his suddenly sensitive neck, but he knew that he couldn't take advantage of the detective's intoxicated state, no matter how much he wanted it.

"Thank you," Shinichi murmured lowly and Kaito bit his lip in order to keep control as he felt how a wet and warm muscle moved tortuously slow over his neck up to his ear, causing fire to run through his veins and effectively reducing the little resistance he had. Shinichi buried his nose in his hair and took a deep breath.

"You smell _so_ good," he hummed huskily and Kaito gasped as Shinichi pushed his body against the thief's while teasingly nibbling his neck and sending shivering sparks along his spine with his hands.  
>"Shinichi," Kaito sighed in pleasure and grabbed into his tie, pulling the detective to his mouth. He shivered in delight, sneaking his tongue in between Shinichi's opened lips, exploring his love's willing mouth. Shinichi groaned in pleasure as his back was pushed against the wall and Kaito pressed the jacket over his shoulders, forcing it down to the floor, desperately needing to get it off. He dug a hand into the detective's hair, loving how the silk moved between his fingers while his other hand made quick work of the tie and shirt. Kaito ran his hands over the bare chest and Shinichi moaned into the kiss, making him shiver in ecstasy. The detective dug his nails into his back and Kaito broke the kiss gasping, spinning them around to push Shinichi towards the bed.<p>

The magician smiled and kissed Shinichi deeply, hearing his needy moan and feeling how his hands made their way to his back, trailing his skin on their way, as soon as they fell to the bed.  
>"Kai-chan," Shinichi moaned, causing Kaito to freeze and pull away from the more than willing mouth, thinking that the detective was talking about Kairi, instead of him and Shinichi whined in protest.<br>"Kai-chan," he mumbled weakly, "more." The thief swallowed thickly and forced himself off of the bed, realising what he was actually doing, and then backed towards the wall, until he stood pressed against it and watched how the detective made a sweeping gesture with his hand, searching for the person who had been on top of him. Shinichi's arm fell to his chest and he began breathing deep calm breaths, telling Kaito that he'd fallen asleep.

"What the hell am I doing?" the magician hissed, digging his hands into his hair and slowly sank to the floor while staring at the sleeping beauty, "you pervert! Disgusting filthy pervert!" Kaito cursed himself for not being able to control his own body; exploiting someone was definitely not gentleman-like, not even partner-like, or loving. He didn't deserve someone as pure and loyal as Shinichi. He panted as he watched the one who held all his love, trying to calm his aroused body and feeling how his undergarments had become uncomfortably tight as the detective turned around and began sleeping on his stomach.

The thief didn't know how long he sat there, simply watching how Shinichi's mouth moved a little while he breathed, but he had time to calm down, fix his fake chest and hair, and in the end leave to retrieve the gadgets and outfit from the air vent. Despite the better of his judgement he returned afterwards, but as he entered he frowned suspiciously; something was off, he could tell. Kaito stared around the room and then saw it; the shirt on the floor was lying differently. The thief searched the room but found no intruder so he shrugged it off, thinking that the detective might have gotten up.

Later he simply sat by the bed watching Shinichi while running his hand through his love's hair, unable to keep himself from touching him while staring at him longingly. Kaito licked his lips as he stared down on the body and stroked a finger along his spine, quickly ending up tracing patterns and pictures on the detective's back.

He grinned and pulled up his special pen, drawing a dove on Shinichi's back just below his neck. Kaito hummed as he filled in details, wanting it to be beautiful and feel alive, but he groaned in annoyance as the lights flickered off, but used a flashlight until they came back.

"A quarter past three," the thief mumbled after he threw a glance at his watch and continued on his creation, but once he was finished with the dove, very pleased with the result, he realised that he could have some more fun.  
>"Don't worry," he whispered into Shinichi's ear, "I'll be nice."<p>

* * *

><p>"Get dressed," Megure said grimly, while an empty-eyed Hagiwara was escorted out of the room by Takagi and handed to Chiba, and Shinichi did as he was told, wondering where his tie was, but ignored it.<br>"What kind of evidence do you have?" he asked in interest before they had time to begin interrogating him.  
>"The strongest one is your fingerprints on the murder weapon," Megure sighed as Shinichi tensed, "Kudou-kun, I need you to tell us everything that you remember." The detective nodded understanding and told them what he knew.<p>

"Megure-keibu, would it be okay if I called someone to come and investigate the murder, since I can't do it myself. If I did it, then I will go willingly, but I won't confess as long as I don't remember it. I _need _to know beyond certainty if I did it," Shinichi pleaded and the man nodded understandingly.  
>"Whoever you call will be observed every step of the way," the inspector commented and Shinichi smiled as he pulled out his phone.<br>"I expect nothing less," he answered and found the name; Hattori Heiji. Shinichi stopped just before he pushed the call-button and stared at the name above the Osakan's; Hakuba Saguru. The Detective of the East hesitated, but then called, knowing that both of them were good.

* * *

><p>Kaito was having serious problems, both Aoko and Saguru could tell, since the thief one moment giggled and then the next pouted, only to look stressed, a bit panicked and then depressed, and if that wasn't enough, he was doing something Kuroba Kaito never did; he was drinking coffee, black. No sugar, no milk; black.<p>

"Kaito, what's wrong?" Aoko asked as the magician ordered his third cup of coffee while giving the waiter a small tip. Kaito felt that he didn't deserve chocolate after what he did to a helpless Shinichi, and he was tired from being up all night, so what better way to punish himself than with bitter coffee? Coffee was, after all, way better than scaly water demons.

"Nothing," he grinned and tapped his fingers against his own hand, but he continued as soon as he saw that Aoko would keep asking questions, "I don't want to talk about it right now, okay? So please drop it." The couple sent each other a glance and silently decided to go along with the magician's wishes, since they both knew that it was impossible to force him to speak. The detective's mobile suddenly rang, and Saguru stared at the display for a while, considering not answering.

"Hakuba," he answered with a hoarse voice.  
>"Hakuba, I need your help," Kudou said quickly.<br>"Oh?"  
>"I'm prime suspect in a murder, and I need you to find the truth,"<br>"And if it really were you?" Saguru asked jokingly, under the strong observation of his girlfriend and the magician, knowing that Kudou would never kill anyone.  
>"Then you get all the credit for putting me in jail,"<br>"Ooh," he grinned, "well, I can't argue with that. Too bad, that fame almost makes me wish you did it."  
>"That's the problem. I can't remember what happened, so it could be me. I can't believe that I would actually kill someone, but they have evidence. For instance, my fingerprints are on the murder weapon. I remember kissing a woman too, so I might have an alibi, but she was gone when I woke up."<br>"Okay," the Brit mumbled and pulled up his notebook, shrugging off the fact that he never considered the detective be so promiscuous as to bring an unknown woman to his room, "what's her name?"  
>"Akera Kairi," the detective informed and Saguru wrote it down.<br>"What does this Akera look like?" the mention of the name caused the magician to tense while sending the detective a surprised expression, which Saguru didn't register as he wrote down the description.  
>"And you're at the hotel where the heist was last night?" he continued, studying the description, "the one I didn't attend because a certain thief drugged me, saying that it was for my own good."<br>"Yes,"  
>"I'll be there," the blonde stated and placed enough money on the table to pay for all three of them after he hung up the phone, "I'm sorry, but I have to leave. A colleague's in trouble."<br>"See you later then," Aoko smiled and turned to the magician, only to find him gone.

* * *

><p>In Osaka a certain dark-skinned teenager yawned and ruffled his hair as he absentmindedly turned on the TV and walked into the kitchen to get breakfast.<p>

"We're currently sending live from the newly opened Hagiwara Hotel in Tokyo, where Kudou Shinichi is currently being held in suspicion of second degree murder of Hagiwara Atsushi's wife Etsuko," the reporter stated and Heiji popped his head into the living room again, not believing what he'd heard, "but it seems like his best friend, and detective with the Kaitou KID taskforce, Hakuba Saguru just arrived."  
>"<em>What tha hell?!<em> _Best friend!?"_ the Osakan roared, "_tha British bastard!?"_  
>"Are you going to help Kudou Shinichi out of this?" the reporter asked when the blonde detective made his way through them as he walked towards the entrance.<br>"I'm going to catch a murderer, and if that's Kudou, then I'll be catching him," the foreigner answered coldly and Heiji scowled as he pulled out his phone, checking if his Eastern counterpart had called or even sent a message.

"Oi, oi, Kudou," the detective murmured angrily with his eyebrow twitching in irritation, "why tha hell haven't ya' called? I'll show ya'! There's no way that that asshole is yer best friend, he wants ta catch ya'!"

"Mom!" he called out as he pulled the cap and jacket on, "I'm goin' ta Tokyo! Ta save Kudou from a noisy British idiot!" The detective was out the door before he'd received an answer and speeded away on his cross, heading for the airport.

* * *

><p>Several hours later Saguru found himself inside the more cosy part of the restaurant going through his notes and scratching his head in frustration. Eyewitness testimonies didn't add up, and several people had seen the detective act suspiciously. All evidence pointed to Kudou, his tie was in Etsuko's clutching hand, his fingerprints were on the knife, he had no alibi, no memories, the crime scene was a mess and obviously staged, but he couldn't tell who the real murderer was or how they did it. The two he suspected for the moment was Etsuko's husband, who had passed out at the sight of the body and Hagiwara's mistress, Kihara Naomi, whom he'd dumped that very night, but Hagiwara also had enemies from different business deals, who wanted to see him suffer. Saguru threw a glance at Kudou and frowned; what had really happened last night?<p>

To everyone Kudou Shinichi seemed to be asleep, or at least very relaxed, in an armchair, if it wasn't for his moving hands, which produced coins and made them disappear. One could say that he was meditating. Takagi was confused by his calm demeanour while Hakuba simply ignored him as long as they weren't bouncing ideas; however, Shinichi wasn't calm, he was frustrated as he'd been unable to find out more about Kairi, and the fact that it was fruitless to run through the memories over and over again with Pandora wasn't helping with his mood. Takagi looked away to where Hagiwara was sitting together with Satou, who was trying to get him to speak about his wife's murder, but he was only staring straight forward with an empty expression.

"Oi! Kudou! Ya' traitor!"  
>"Hattori?" Shinichi asked and turned to the entrance, seeing the Osakan detective stand there.<br>"They said on tha news that tha British bastard was yer best friend!" Shinichi sighed and massaged his temples, feeling how a headache was slowly forming, while Hakuba only threw him a glance, sighing on the inside.  
>"Are ya' hearing me, Blondie!? There's no way that Kudou would ever kill anyone!" the Detective of the West shouted and pointed to Hakuba.<br>"Hattori!" Shinichi stopped him as he was about to continue the rant, "I appreciate your help since I'm not even allowed anywhere else than from this chair to the restroom, but they do have a lot of evidence against me."  
>"Yea well, that have ta be fake," Hattori asserted as he seated himself beside the small table in the armchair beside his friend and then glared at Hakuba, "'cause Kudou doesn't kill people."<br>"I know that the entire crime scene is staged," the Brit answered and ignored the Osakan's glare as Shinichi began to tell his story again.

* * *

><p>"Shinichi," a voice sang and everyone turned to the woman who had entered, "mou, I heard that you got into some trouble."<br>"Kairi! You're here!" Shinichi smiled happily, hoping that the woman in a long stylish white dress with bare shoulders could fill in some blanks, while Satou, who heard his greeting, went to get Megure.  
>"Oi! Kudou!" Hattori hissed quietly, "how tha hell did ya' manage ta get her ta yer room?"<p>

"Oo my," Kaito stated delighted at seeing all of his detectives gathered, "so many famous people!"  
>"It's an honour," the magician continued as he reached them, making sure that he walked in a way so that he showed off his hips and chest, "you must be Hattori Heiji! The Great Detective of the West! I've heard so much about you! I follow all your cases!" the Osakan detective blushed as he studied the woman and stammered a greeting. "And you must be Hakuba Saguru! Oo my, you are so much more handsome face to face! Those cameras don't make you justice!"<p>

"Hello, Akera-san, it's nice to meet you. I have a girlfriend, and I'm not interested in anyone else. Where were you between three and four last night?"  
>"Blunt," Kaito muttered, but he was happy that the detective hadn't begun flirting with him; if he did he would've been sorry after Kaito was done with him, "I was with Shinichi."<br>"Ya' lucky dog," Hattori whispered and bumped Shinichi's shoulder with his fist.

"So, Kairi, I have," the Detective of the East blushed, "no memories. The last thing I remember is kissing, so, um, how far did we go exactly?"  
>"Kissing?" Kaito asked confused, happy that he'd been training in front of a mirror so that he looked innocent in case Shinichi really remembered, "Shinichi you fainted just beyond the door and I put you to bed." Kaito giggled and seated himself in the detective's lap, throwing his arms around the other's neck. "My dear," he said in a warm female voice, "if you want to, we can make those dreams real."<br>"No, thank you. I told you on the party." Kaito sighed at the detective's words.  
>"Yea yea, I know. You damn detective."<p>

Hakuba frowned as a thought hit him.

"Akera-san, the camera in the elevator shows you helping Kudou to his room at 02.04:56, you went up one floor at 02.45:15 and returned to the same floor again at 02.47:03. The cameras never show you leaving that floor again."

"Yes, that's correct, I realised that I had forgotten some makeup on the other floor, in the public restroom, so I went to pick it up and because I was worried about Shinichi I went back down to his room. I stayed with him to five and then left." Kaito hummed, "you said that the murder happened somewhere from three to four? Now that I think about it, there was a blackout from five minutes past three to a quarter past three."  
>"Blackout? The cameras never registered that. How do you know the exact time?"<br>"Well, I got annoyed by it because I was drawing a pretty dove on Shin-chan's back."  
>"Hah? On my back? Why would you draw a dove on my back?" Shinichi asked baffled.<br>"The Shoe Rule, if you pass out with your shoes on you're 'fair game', so I could draw on you," Kaito giggled and got up from the detective's lap, "I was very pleased with the outcome!"

Shinichi got up from the armchair and walked to the restroom in order to see what kind of damage the woman had done to his back. The detective pulled up his shirt and froze as the mirror revealed a distinct heist note with a dove above it.

"_At the Hour of the Ghost,  
>After the twelfth passing over the horizon,<br>In a place close to Holmes,  
>The emerald of the long lost place will be taken.<em>

_We stand as equals in a random game of Luck and Walls of Glass  
>Where mirror images creates a maze of Light and Dark.<br>The prize for the jewel will be a name while the loser will be the player.  
>~Kaitou KID *doodle*"<em>

When Shinichi got back to the others all he could do was stare. The thief's beauty had even made Pandora ignore his echolocation in order to watch 'the woman' through the body's eyes.  
>"Now that I've seen the picture," Shinichi bent down to the thief who had taken his place in the chair and whispered into his ear, "are you still willing to make my dreams come true?"<br>"Would you believe me if I said yes?" Kaito snickered while listening to the suggestiveness in the detective's voice.  
>"No, I wouldn't."<br>"Mou, why not?" KID asked and the detective rolled his eyes.  
>"Take a guess," the detective mumbled as Megure showed up, Hakuba left to investigate and KID told the same story again, soon after the story was finished the lights on the higher floors went out as Hakuba tested his hypothesis, feeling the need to beat the Osakan even though he had found the evidence and now knew who, when and how they did it.<p>

* * *

><p>Shinichi was staring at the thief who only smiled at him. Takagi was confused by their staring contest and their seemingly cryptic conversations and was relieved when the Brit returned.<br>"Takagi-keiji, where is Megure-keibu?"  
>"He's supervising Hattori-kun's investigation of the crime scene, they left only moments ago,"<br>"Good, get him here, and I'll show you what happened."

Once everyone had gathered in the restaurant Hakuba made his way to Shinichi's room, which he opened with the master key and picked up a pen from inside while the group followed him. He then went up to the elevator, took up his watch, pressed the button and the elevator arrived just as the lights went out. The group followed the detective who went two floors up and walked up to the room next to the crime scene as he pulled out a sheet from underneath his shirt and placed it over himself. Hakuba drew the key into the slit and strolled inside.

"Satou-keiji, it's me," he stated as he walked up to her. Takagi watched in horror how he pulled out something that shone in the weak light from the window and stabbed her with it. Satou fell to the floor and held a hand over the wound in her chest.

"Okay," Saguru began in the dark room as he watched the officer 'die', "here's where the scene gets tampered with. Say that Satou-keiji were to crawl in order to grab into the tie she would leave handprints in blood. There were no handprints, so the only conclusion is that," Hakuba rolled the officer over on her stomach and pulled her along the floor, smearing 'the blood' and placed the pen in her outstretched hand, giving the impression of a dying message, "it was staged." The detective pulled off the sheet and rolled it together after he dropped the knife on the floor. He tipped over the desk and walk through the corridor out into the fire-escape, tied the bloody sheet together with his gloves into a line connected to the building's corner and threw it away, causing the evidence to disappear. He then walked to the elevator and pushed the button and took up his watch, which he smiled at.

"The murderer went down to perfect their alibi, and as long as the lights on the higher floors are out, so are the cameras in the elevators; my guess is because of faulty wiring. The time on the cameras had all been turned forward ten minutes, so once they started running again they would show the correct time. It was perfectly done, and prepared from the start. This wasn't just a murder in the spur of the moment, it was premeditated and planned. And it was carried out by none other than Kihara Naomi who thought she could get her hands on Hagiwara's fortune, not knowing that he was only sleeping with her to make his own wife jealous enough to stop flirting with others.

The video shows Hagiwara breaking up with Kihara, at the same time as Kudou and Akera danced, and then she disappears. I caught a few glances of her on the cameras as she fixed the timer and tricked her way into getting the master key, but the acts in themselves seem pretty harmless and can't be considered hard evidence. She wanted to frame Kudou because he revealed that Hagiwara's wife wasn't having an affair and got him to try to mend their marriage, thereby taking away her source of income. This was first degree murder since she's been planning on killing Etsuko for quite a while, but she did improvise by waiting for Akera-san to leave Kudou's room and then entered to get his fingerprints on the knife and steal his tie. I've collected the evidence from the outside, so we have her fingerprints inside the gloves, right Tome-san?"

"Yes," the man answered and the woman only spat to the floor before she realised that she'd been caught and began trying to justify the murder in a loud angry voice.

* * *

><p>"Oi, Takagi-keiji," Shinichi stopped the officer as they were about to leave, "if you're going to the police station could I ride with you?"<br>"Sure," the man answered.  
>"In a matter of fact," Hakuba suddenly stood beside them, "I need to deliver a note to Nakamori-keibu, from KID, so maybe I could tag along too," the Brit lowered his voice, "I'll ride wherever there's place and no Osakan people who wants me dead." Shinichi laughed at the joke and nodded understanding as he threw a glance at Hattori, who was being seduced by a giggling KID.<br>"Thank you Hakuba, you're a good friend. Is it a heist note you're delivering?" the dark haired detective asked; if it was, then he wouldn't need to show Nakamori his back.  
>"No, I think he wants to trade the next jewel for something," Hakuba answered with a shake of his head, "we're going to get into a lot of trouble if KID stops returning his loot."<br>"Oh? What does it say?"

"It was; _The sorrowful waves, fashioned by an elegant touch of mastery,  
>echoing throughout the lonesome home, longing for the warmth of family and life,<br>captivated the white ghost and is the only thing which can release the gem from its hold.  
>~Kaitou KID<em>"

"Oh?" Shinichi said before he began thinking about it and didn't realise that Hakuba had left with Takagi until an arm wrapped around his waist a seductive voice whispered in his ear.

"Hey, Shinichi, you're spacing out. Everyone went to the parking garage," the thief pulled him along and Shinichi glanced to the disguise, still amazed that it was Kaito underneath, "you should hurry and show your back to Nakamori-keibu, my dear heist note-san." KID pulled him to the elevator.  
>"Were you having fun flirting with Hattori?" Shinichi asked quietly.<br>"Is that jealousy I detect?"  
>"No, interest," Shinichi smiled at his lie as they entered the elevator and pushed the button to the parking garage.<br>"Ooh, I only wish that I could see his face when he understands that it's me,"  
>"I'm looking forward to that, Kairi-chan," Shinichi smiled and slapped the thief's behind, causing him to squeak in shock, "thank you for showing up."<br>"You just grabbed my ass," KID complained with a pout as the doors opened, "is that the thanks I get?"  
>"Would you rather have me kiss you?" Shinichi asked as he walked away.<br>"Actually yes, I would love that," the thief muttered with a sigh and rolled his eyes.

* * *

><p><strong>SubChap.3<br>Kairi's Identity**  
>fanfiction(.net)s/8075943/4/


	42. Castle of Glass

A/N: The next update will be quicker, but that chapter will be a bit insane, and longer than this one. Have fun :)

And I'd like to thank you who reviewed with the Guest reviews! Thank you, I really enjoy reading them (yes, I do read them multiple times XD) and I'm happy that you like the story.

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

Uploaded: 2012-08-02  
>Revised: 2014-09-16<br>Chapter rating: K+  
>Words: 3,000<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Chap. 42<br>Castle of Glass**

Kaito banged his head hard into the desk, feeling disgusted and repulsed by himself, while at the same time being unable to push away the giddy feelings and haziness of his brain. He couldn't believe that he'd actually taken advantage of the detective's low tolerance for alcohol, sure, it wasn't actually he who had poured alcohol into the water, but he'd still brought Shinichi to his room and then gone further than he should have, hell, he'd barely been able to stop himself, and his feelings had only increased exponentially as the days had passed. He never imagined that he could become so completely desperate for anyone's attention; he felt heartbroken, always thinking of the one who had Shinichi's interest, while his dreams were filled with nothing else than the detective, causing him to constantly wake up during the night, and he had decided that as soon as Hakuba and Shinichi were having another 'date' he'd show up and force the Brit to introduce him, unless he could find another way to meet him before that, but for now he needed to wait.

* * *

><p>Shinichi sighed in relief as school ended; he'd been longing to go home and hide all day. He had figured out the meaning of the note KID had given to Hakuba before anyone else, and he'd been hoping that no one would figure out its meaning, but of course the blonde detective had to go and solve it despite Shinichi's best effort to thwart him.<p>

"_The sorrowful waves, fashioned by an elegant touch of mastery,  
>echoing throughout the lonesome home, longing for the warmth of family and life,<br>captivated the white ghost and is the only thing which can release the gem from its hold."_

Once Shinichi had realised that the note wasn't a riddle of some kind he'd felt like it was obvious; KID wanted him to play the song he'd interrupted in exchange for the jewel, and Shinichi bluntly refused when Hakuba figured out that the waves that KID had written about in the note were sound waves and that 'lonesome home' meant a home with no family. After all of their conversations about Sherlock Holmes the blonde was well aware of the fact that Shinichi played the violin, which emitted 'fashioned' sound waves when played, and Hakuba was also well aware of how good the other detective was. Shinichi would never play that song for KID; it wasn't finished and it didn't even have a name. The melody was his recent life, and it currently had three parts; 'Conan and the BO', 'the cure and the isolation', and 'passion of love', which would be finished with the last part; 'heartbroken' or 'timeless bliss', depending on how his confession to the thief would go.

"Hey, Shinichi!"  
>The detective looked up as he placed the books in his bag, seeing Sonoko stand in front of him with her arms crossed, smiling smugly at him while Ran stood beside her.<br>"You are now officially forgiven," the blonde smirked, "now you can come with us." The girl took a grip into his arm and pulled him away.  
>"Hah? Officially forgiven?" he asked as Sonoko dragged him through the corridor.<br>"Well, actually Ran forgave you a long time ago, but after what you did I didn't approve of her forgiveness. You had to be punished! But, I've gotten bored by listening to her ask when it's time to forgive you, so now it's time for you to earn your forgiveness!"  
>"But I thought I <em>was<em> forgiven," Shinichi commented.  
>"You are, but now you have to <em>earn <em>it! First we're going shopping!" Sonoko giggled and Shinichi deadpanned, understanding that they, or simply Sonoko, just wanted someone to carry their bags, "and then you're buying us refreshments! I know that the police have started to pay you, and I can only imagine what you get for all the interviews!"  
>"Just because the police pay me doesn't it mean that they pay me much; if I get much they wouldn't call me, and I want any case they can't solve so that I can become the best in the world! Just like Sherlock Holmes!"<br>"God! You're such a Holmes-freak!" Sonoko sighed and released his arm as they got to their lockers.

* * *

><p>"Now, listen closely," Sonoko spun around and poked a finger into his chest as they were done shopping and were standing outside a small café, "I don't understand how anyone can like you, but this girl does, so be nice!"<br>"What?" Shinichi asked and realised that she'd set him up on a blind date, but Sonoko went inside before he'd even had time to protest.  
>"Come on, Shinichi, she's really nice," his childhood friend stated with a smile and pushed him inside.<br>"Ran, not you too," the detective complained.  
>"Don't give me that!" she demanded as she took some of the bags from him, "I've known you for a long time, and I can tell that you're depressed, and I agree with Sonoko; if you meet someone you like you'll become happier!" The dark haired woman pulled him to a table where a nervous looking girl sat.<p>

"Hi, Aimi-chan! Did you have to wait?" Ran asked and the girl looked up to them with a blush and shook her head.  
>"No, not long," she smiled carefully as she got up from her seat and Shinichi decided that she couldn't be described as anything else than cute and innocent with her clear, brown eyes, doll-like features, wary demeanour and small smile.<p>

As soon as he realised that it was a blind date he'd thought that he would walk in there, apologise and walk out, but with a girl like that, she would most certainly start crying and everyone would turn to him and give him a disapproving glare. Shinichi threw a glance out the windows, seeing a paparazzi on the other side; so whatever happened inside would be documented. He sighed and silently wondered how Sonoko had found her, because there was no way that Ran had reached the conclusion to set him up without a lot of help from Sonoko.

"Good afternoon," he said polite, deciding that everyone's anger for upsetting someone so vulnerable-looking would be too bothersome, "I'm Kudou Shinichi, nice to meet you."  
>"G-good afternoon," she said with a jumpy bow, "I'm Masoni Aimi, it's nice to meet you too, Kudou-sama." Shinichi felt how his irritation grew as he sat down; he wouldn't ask her to call him anything else and he would refuse to call her by name, unless he absolutely had to.<p>

In the alley opposite to the café the paparazzi scowled in annoyance as he realised that the Suzuki-girl had dared to set _his Shinichi_ up on a blind date, but going by the looks of the detective he didn't like it either. Kaito studied the tense posture, the irritated flicker of his fingers that he got every time he was angry, the calm smile and cold eyes, ooh yes, the detective did _not_ want to be there. The thief waited, wondering if he should go inside and interrupt them, maybe kidnap the detective or simply sit down and start hitting on him, and by the looks of the girl she wouldn't be able to say anything. She would probably look down into the table or wave a small hand saying, 'ano' in a quiet voice, but she would definitely not do anything after he'd ignored her or commented on her makeup, or something. Kaito was just about to disguise and walk inside when he remembered Shinichi's curse. The thief looked at his watch; it had been exactly four days and thirteen hours since the hotel murder.

"3… 2… 1..." he mumbled quietly, knowing that the curse often struck when there were large crowds, but nothing happened, so he tried again, "3… 2..."

'_Power spike,'_ Pandora commented and Shinichi spun around just as a man fell from his chair to the floor.  
>"Nobody move!" he demanded and ran to the man's side, seeing that he was dead and that he'd been poisoned, "Ran, call Megure-keibu and guard the doors; no one can leave. Sonoko go to the other side of the street and bring the paparazzi here; he might have pictures." Both women did as they were told and the thief was brought inside.<p>

"You know," Kaito stated quietly as Shinichi looked at the pictures in his camera, "it's been four days and thirteen hours since your curse struck."  
>"I'm not curs-," the detective froze and stared at a picture. Kaito leaned in over his shoulder and smiled; it was the picture he took of the detective's back while he was sleeping. "KID?" the detective whispered and the thief grinned.<br>"In the flesh," Kaito answered with a wink and was rewarded with an amused smile.  
>"So you're stalking me again?"<br>"Yea well, you know that Tantei-san is a bit boring, as long as he isn't going on a date with his girlfriend, then I stalk-, _investigate_ them,"  
>"I'll try to keep you out of this,"<br>"Thank you, I'll see you at the next heist," the thief smiled and hid a red, thornless rose in his palms, only showing it to the detective before he made sure that the rose was secure in Shinichi's pocket, "and don't forget the violin Shin-chan!"  
>"In your dreams, and only my mother calls me that," Shinichi muttered and gave him back the camera, after he erased the picture, not knowing that the thief had copies in his computer, and started to investigate the murder, while Kaito gleefully observed him.<p>

* * *

><p>It was Saturday evening at the Treasures of the Sea's museum in Beika where the Emerald of Atlantis rested in its display case inside a huge room with other antiquities displayed back to back, creating a beautiful set. The heist-preparations were anything but calm, especially since both Nakamori and Shinichi had a slight disagreement over what they considered acceptable, or maybe it was more like a deafening shouting contest where they established each other's stubbornness and volume control.<p>

"I told you!" the detective yelled at Nakamori, who by that time was red with anger, "I won't play the violin!"  
>"You have to! Otherwise KID won't return the jewel!"<br>"Then you play it!"  
>"I can't play! And I don't even know what song it is!"<br>"Neither do I!" Shinichi lied and the circular argument began again from the very beginning, giving him at least another twenty minutes of fighting.

"Takao, who do you think will win?" the taskforce member called Hiro asked quietly and Saguru slightly turned his head so that he could hear them better.  
>"I don't know," the round-faced, child-like Takao answered, "how long have they been going on like that?"<br>"1 hour, 7 minutes, 45 seconds, and 31 milliseconds," the detective replied.  
>"Oh," Takao mumbled, "who do you think will win, Hakuba-san?"<br>"Kudou," Saguru answered simply, "because he was prepared for this the moment he decided to leave the violin at home."

"Otou-san!" Aoko called out, louder than both the inspector and detective put together as she entered the room and saw the fight, and efficiently ended the argument. Shinichi's eyes widened in surprise and he saw his chance to befriend her while Hakuba froze, seeing all of his work go to waste as his girlfriend smiled at the two while she walked up to them.  
>"I brought your and Saguru's dinner," the young woman said to her father and Shinichi smiled at her.<br>"You must be Nakamori Aoko-san! I've heard so much about you from Hakuba. It's a pleasure to meet you!" Shinichi bowed with a smile and coughed away the hoarseness of his voice before Aoko introduced herself.

"I'm sorry that you had to hear us argue like that, Aoko-san," Shinichi began again and she shook her head.  
>"No, it's okay. What were you arguing about?"<br>"KID wants me to play the violin for him in exchange for the emerald," Shinichi explained sheepishly and Aoko scowled.  
>"That stupid thief! Always trying to get his own way! Don't you dare play for him!" the young woman roared and Shinichi was surprised that she was siding with him instead of her father.<br>"Hey, Aoko, he has to pla-," Nakamori began but was silenced with one glare.  
>"Otou-san! If you give in to him now he's going to want something else the next time! Soon he might demand a kiss from Shinichi-kun! And then his chastity!" Everyone blinked at her statement and Shinichi blushed at her bluntness, knowing that he'd happily give himself to the thief, as long as it wasn't in a heist note.<p>

"Aoko! He would never do that! He's a gentleman!" a familiar voice called out and the girl turned around as Shinichi felt his stomach flutter from the sight and Hakuba sighed as he walked up to them, assessing the damage that would be caused.  
>"Kaito! Didn't I tell you to wait outside?"<br>"But it was cold," the magician pouted as he walked up to her and gave her 'the puppy eyes'.  
>"Shinichi-kun, this is my childhood friend Kuroba Kaito" the girl giggled as she looked from the magician to the detective, "and apparently your long lost twin!" Shinichi smiled at her joke and bowed to the magician.<br>"It's nice to meet you, Kuroba-kun,"  
>"Yes, it is, Shin-chan!" the thief grinned and Shinichi raised an eyebrow at the nickname.<br>"Don't call me that," the he demanded and frowned as he realised that the thief just gave him a way to call him by his name, "if you don't want to be formal just call me Shinichi, _not_ Shin-chan."  
>"Yes, sir!" Kaito saluted him with a grin, getting exactly what he wanted, "and you can call me Kaito! No need for formalities!"<br>"Okay then, Kaito," Shinichi smiled as the thief was dragged away by Aoko, "see you some other time."  
>"Sure will, Shinichi! And that's a <em>promise<em>!" Kaito called out with a laugh while the door to the room was closed and Saguru studied his friend, making sure that he didn't figure out who it was that he just met, but the thief hadn't used any tricks so Kudou might still be left in the dark.

"Do you know him?" Shinichi asked, aware that the blonde did and feeling happy that the thief had promised that they would meet again.  
>"Yes, we're in the same class," Hakuba shrugged as Nakamori was pulled away by a worried owner, "he's a good student, but loud, and has a problem with staying still, and attending the lectures."<br>"Interesting guy,"  
>"Not really, and you're complete opposites. You two are as far from each other like a detective and a thief are according to the law," Hakuba threw him a glance, "but what is it about the melody that makes you unwilling to play it?" Shinichi opened his mouth to reply something angrily, but sighed instead.<br>"When I was undercover Kobay-, eh, someone ordered me to get rid of my frustration through music, and in the end I got some pieces that sounded good when put together. The song doesn't have a name, or an ending, and I'll definitely not play it when there are reporters inside," the detective sent a glare at the men with cameras who were joking with each other, not noticing the bothered detective.  
>"Oh, I see. So you wrote it yourself. Maybe you won't have to play it if you tell that to KID, but knowing him, he might want to hear it even more."<br>"Or I'll just have to win whatever game he's been planning, and since it's random I have the same chance to win as he has."

* * *

><p>The clock struck twelve, the lights went out and muffled screams were heard from the taskforce members closest to the display case, but before Shinichi had even flickered on the light on his watch he was lifted into the air by something that covered his mouth and spun around until he couldn't tell what direction was where.<p>

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" Kaitou KID's voice called out from everywhere and Shinichi felt floor underneath his feet as lightning flashed through the ceiling, "welcome to tonight's games."

Whatever it was that restrained the detective released him and he shone the light around himself, seeing a few taskforce members surround him while the light was reflected in something that covered the entire room. The lights flickered on and to Shinichi surprise it came from the floor. The detective frowned as he looked around; they were standing by a wall on one side and a transparent glass pane on the other while every other direction was consisting of mirrors, even the roof and floor were one.

"'Walls of Glass', huh?" Shinichi mumbled as he walked up to the glass pane and stared at what seemed to be a maze. He couldn't even see the display cases or artworks, which were all obscured by mirrors, prohibiting him from figuring out exactly where in the room they were, and given that KID could easily place a fake wall behind them caused him to grow uncertain if he was in the middle with the target behind him or if the jewel was hiding in either one of the light or dark passages in the maze, or even in a mirror cluster.  
>'<em>That... Is awesome!'<em> Pandora grinned widely, _'man, I love that guy!'_

"As the owner could've told you, but he's currently taking a nap," KID's voice sounded, "this museum was some time ago one of the largest fun houses in the world. It's a shame that the amusement park was sold and the rides moved elsewhere, but the fun house remained, so for one night only, the old fun house will be revived. We are currently on the top floor and you have to remember that every floor has its own traps and style, and my assistant installed cages that will keep you there unless a friend finds you and releases you. And as a late birthday present to me he hasn't told me the layout, so I could end up in a cage as well, now let's play 'Find the Jewel' in the maze!"

"3…" another, older voice said, "2… 1… Go."

* * *

><p>AN:  
>*In Magic Kaito, Aoko is certain that KID is gay ever since Akako pretended to be KID and screamed a bit girly.<br>*Shinichi is saying; Kobayashi

**Answer to Guest review 'D' in Chap. 40**  
>Kaito uses it in order to not specify gender in the beginning, so that neither Aoko nor Saguru will know that he fell in love with a man, while I mostly am referring to 'Kaito and Shinichi' as 'they'. When 'they' dancedwalked/talked.  
>(Sorry, I was supposed to answer in the last chapter, but forgot. Sorry)<p> 


	43. Mirror Images

A/N: And as promised; an (extra) early update! With a SubChapter of everyone's favourite gem! (URL at the end)  
>I've noticed that it goes a bit faster to write if I write the beginning, the end, any scene that I find interesting and then binds them together XD<p>

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

Uploaded: 2012-08-05  
>Revised: 2014-09-16<br>Chapter rating: K+  
>Words: 4,100<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Chap. 43<br>Mirror Images**

The glass panel slid to the side and Shinichi saw how a white flutter ran into the maze from what must've been a room on the other side of the mirror to his left. The detective ran, trying to make his way towards one of the mirror-clusters where he thought the display case was, even though he wasn't certain. As he turned around a corner he saw that the officers had split up and were running everywhere. A loud gong-gong was heard and Shinichi saw how a glass pane slid and severed his path, creating a dead-end and forced him to turn around to find another way to get to the more mirrored area.

He stopped just as he was about to enter a dark area, lighting his watch and studying the reflections, knowing that it would be a great location to place a trap.  
>'<em>Shinichi, please, it's dark,'<em> Pandora begged, knowing that his host would understand what he wanted, _'who's going to see us?'_ Shinichi looked around seeing an officer get sprayed by pink gas and a cameraman disappear through a trapdoor in the floor, while everyone else were getting further and further away, and becoming obscured by other mirror-clusters.

"The floor below is a haunted house!" a terrified voice called out in Shinichi's headset as he slowly entered the dark area, "someone help me! It's Kaitou KID-style!"  
>The same, older voice, which had counted down in the speakers chuckled.<br>"Well, not really. It's Assistant-style," the voice stated as Shinichi leaned on the mirror and let Pandora take over, "I can't make it any other way."

Shinichi relaxed as he felt the gem take over and grin in the darkness as he turned off the light, seeing two red, slightly glowing balls in the mirrors around him.  
>'<em>I wanted to try this yesterday,'<em> Pandora thought as Shinichi nervously watched, '_but I need your help.'  
><em>'Sure,' Shinichi thought and Pandora suddenly stood in front of him in the red world.  
>'<em>Close your eyes,<em>' the gem took his hands and smiled as he obeyed, '_this is something you'll be able to do later. Now, concentrate on me.'_ Shinichi concentrated and took a grip into the gem's hands, all of a sudden feeling odd, as if he and Pandora had merged together, and when he opened his eyes, as Pandora commanded, he saw the world through the eyes of the body in red lines.

Pandora clapped his hands together and Shinichi saw the sound waves create a path through the darkness. The gem ran along the path and Shinichi frowned as he clapped his hands together again, revealing a big square on the floor, which he jumped over.  
>'You can see the red lines right? Or are you running with your eyes closed?'<br>'_No, I'm not running with my eyes closed and yes, I can see the lines, because we're working together. Normally we're not able to see through the glass whenever we use echolocation, but now we can!'  
><em>'Cool,' Shinichi commented as they ran, 'as long as we are alone we're never going to need to use a flashlight again.' The gong-gong sounded and Pandora stopped, seeing the mirror panes close a couple of viable paths and open a couple of others. Confused he watched how the roof lowered a ramp, creating a route upwards.

'_That was more than cool! We need something louder than a clap,'_ Pandora thought and placed two fingers in his mouth, whistling loudly and watched how multiple paths were revealed. The jewel grinned and ran up the ramp, assuming that the mirror was strong enough to carry them.  
>Suddenly the mirrors stopped only to be replaced by transparent glass and Pandora stared down at the white-clad thief running beneath them. KID looked up in shock and Pandora jolted his head up, hiding the glowing eyes from him as they entered the mirrors again, but on two different levels.<p>

'He's close,' Shinichi muttered as Pandora whistled again, 'wonder if he really doesn't know the layout.'  
>'<em>He said he didn't,'<br>_'I know, but the note said; ''the prize for the jewel will be a name''. What name? Will KID tell us his name because we got the emerald? -I don't think so- Or does he want to know the name of who I'm in love with?'  
><em>'Ha! And that's the paranoia kicking in!'<em> Pandora stated with a laugh as the gong-gong sounded and the floor in front of them became a ramp, which they slid down and Pandora whistled, _'why would he be interested in that? Unless you're assuming that he's in love with you-me-us-whatever...'  
><em>'I don't know... He's curios about everything that he doesn't know.'  
>'<em>Or maybe it's just the name of the song? He did comment that the loser would be the player,'<em> Pandora stated as they rounded a corner and found themselves inside a room of transparent glass with the emerald in the middle.

'_Ooh, I'm awesome! Bow down and worship your god and master!'_ the gem joked as he picked the lock on the display case and Shinichi snorted amused when he received a small shock from it. Pandora smiled at the emerald in his hand and then frowned.  
>"Okay, we won?"<br>'Hide it, maybe?'  
>'<em>That's a good idea,'<em> Pandora smiled and looked up, only to find himself staring at the thief who stood on the other side of a glass panel. _'O-oh.'  
><em>'Eyes!' Shinichi thought in panic.  
>'<em>Too late,'<em> Pandora mumbled as the thief frowned and leaned in closer.  
>'Then run!'<br>The gem spun around and headed for the ramp, soon hearing the gong-gong strike, and the ramp was pulled up just before they reached it. Pandora didn't need to whistle to know that the glass panel had opened for the thief; he could hear his footsteps. Pandora turned on the light on the watch when he entered another dark area.

"How did anyone get down to the haunted house?" Pandora asked in the headset.  
>"I fell through the floor," someone answered with a quiet whisper and the gem whistled loudly, watching the echo spread and reveal a trapdoor in a passage they just went by, so he spun around and headed into that path, hearing the thief close in on him and seeing the reflections of his flashlight in the mirrors.<p>

* * *

><p>"Anybody there?!" Pandora called out with his eyes closed as he landed on the floor after he rode a slide from the floor above, but no one answered. A low growl came out from the speakers and showed them the room in red. Pandora opened his eyes and stared at the mechanical hound with glowing eyes, and then ran past it. Doors slammed open beside them, the speakers howled with the wind and sounded creaking steps in the otherwise quiet environment, things fell from the ceiling with a scream, tripwires gave off loud explosions and gigantic spider webs were covering the corridor, which Pandora got stuck in.<p>

'_A thousand piles of horse dung!'_ the jewel called out in frustration as he tried to get out of the web, _'it's like a real spider web, but made for humans instead of flies!'  
><em>'Stop whining and get out of it,' Shinichi commented amused, realising how the gem experienced everything, 'we'll have company soon.'  
>'<em>I know! This isn't easy!'<em> Pandora tore himself away from the web and landed on his back. _'Uuh, it's so sticky,'_ he muttered as he got up and started running, but before they got to the end of the next room something detached from the upper wall and Pandora immediately braced himself for an impact. The thing stopped only centimetres from them with a loud scream and the entire room lit up in a cold greenish light. Shinichi immediately saw the face of a vampire with its mouth open, fangs visible and blood surrounding its teeth, but Pandora threw himself away from it with a scream of pure terror before he crawled behind a couple of lacerated corpses and into the corner, hiding behind a large box.  
>'Oi, Pandora, what's wrong?' Shinichi asked worried, feeling how the gem trembled in fear as he curled himself into a ball, 'it's just a doll.'<p>

The detective suddenly got a vision of himself running through a thick forest in the middle of the day, looking behind himself to see if he's being followed, no, not followed; hunted. His muscles protested from exhaustion and he had a gaping injury on his side, but he kept running while pressing a hand to his stomach over the wound. The vision shifted and Shinichi crawled into a small, dim cave, leaned his back against the wall and lifted his shirt, wincing as he examined the wound. It wasn't very deep, but the edges were burnt, and he could see that it was infected. A low chuckle could be heard and he jolted his head up, only to stare at what Shinichi could tell was a humanoid creature. It looked _kind of_ like a human, but it had yellow eyes, with long narrow pupils, like a cat's, while its skin had a cold grey-greenish colour. It had long white hair, some markings over its left eye and dark clothing, but he couldn't tell what kind of clothing in the darkness of the cave. It grinned; showing that it had dark, greyish teeth, and from what Shinichi could tell; they were sharp, like a shark's.

'Pandora,' the host thought and gave the monster that was nearing him slowly, obviously enjoying watching him in pain, a stubborn glare, 'contact the others and save yourself.'  
>'<em>No, I can't jus-,'<br>_'Obey, you can't save me; I'm not enlightened enough, but maybe someone else is. Now sleep!' the man commanded and Pandora reluctantly did as he was told.  
>"You reek of fear," the creature grinned with a very low and slightly hoarse voice as the gem's sight slowly darkened and Shinichi could hear how the host screamed in pain before the vision disappeared completely.<p>

Shinichi blinked and was suddenly in control of the body, hearing Pandora quiver in fear.  
>'What was that thing?!'<br>'_I don't remember!'_ Pandora called out and huddled in the corner of his library, _'please, get us out of here.'_

'Okay,' the detective answered, but just as he was about to get up from their hiding place running steps was heard and a white-clad thief, covered in spider web, entered the room and Shinichi lay with his arms in front of himself, pretending to be one of the corpses. He covered the watch with one hand so that no reflection would give him away, and prepared to use it in case the thief found him. KID ran through the room after shining the flashlight around a bit sloppy, but when the vampire fell from the wall and the room was lightened up with the greenish light he stopped. The thief backed away with a small smile; the doorway was completely covered in spider web, so he understood that the detective hadn't passed through, which meant that he was near. Shinichi flipped open the watch just as KID turned the light towards him and fired, hitting his target.

"Damn it, Meitan-," KID said through the darkness and Shinichi heard a low thud as he fell asleep.  
>'Hey Pandora,' Shinichi thought with a smile and ran up to the sleeping person, feeling the need to make the gem happier, 'you like revenges. What should we do to him?' He carefully opened the tie and shirt, vary of any traps that might hide on the thief's body, but was only ambushed by a flock of doves, which seated themselves on their 'master'.<br>'_But the Shoe Rule doesn't apply unless he'd drunk.'  
><em>'This is revenge, but… Don't you smell alcohol? I'm pretty sure I do,' Shinichi grinned as he ignored the doves on his head and shoulders, pulled up a can and sprayed it into the air, seeing pink smoke and hearing Pandora laugh.  
>'<em>Yea! Now that you mention it, he does smell a little of alcohol!'<em> Pandora guffawed, immediately feeling excited, _'use the same thing he used on us! He has to have it on him!'_ Shinichi took the flashlight into his mouth so that he could see what he was doing as he searched the thief's pockets, quickly spreading out the contents on the floor.

'So, what do you think that the Moonlight Magician wants drawn on his back?' the detective snickered as he found the marker and rolled the sleeping thief over to his stomach, all the while making sure that no one was going to interrupt them.  
>'<em>But we're not that good at drawing.'<br>_'No, we're not… Oh! I know!' Shinichi stated and began to work on KID's back while Pandora laughed as he realised what the detective was thinking.  
>'<em>More!'<em> the gem demanded joyfully when there was so more room on his back and Shinichi rolled him over.  
>'Shall we continue on his chest?'<br>'_Yes! Draw a KID-doodle on him!'  
><em>'Sure, that's simple enough,' Shinichi drew the caricature over the thief's heart, but just as he finished his wrists were caught in a firm grip and he was spun around so that their positions became reversed.

"Make sure that your victim isn't waking up," KID hummed contently as he straddled Shinichi and held his wrists to the floor beside his head.  
>"I could've <em>sworn<em> I smelled alcohol from you," the detective grinned rebelliously, knowing that KID would get the hint.  
>"Oh, what a <em>naughty<em> boy you are," the thief grinned widely and studied the KID-doodle on his chest, thinking that it was the only thing that had been done to him, "but no damage done. I quite like it. Did you enjoy undressing me?"  
>"Oh, and what if I did?" he answered suggestively.<br>"Well, then I'll have to punish you," the thief whispered with a smug smile.  
>"What if I like the punishment?"<br>"Then I'll just have to come up with another, or maybe you had the right idea from the start," the thief mumbled quietly and moved the arms above Shinichi's head so that he could hold them down with the same hand, and instantly removed the detective's tie and opened his shirt, "I don't want to ruin my work of art, but I have a whole front side to play with." Kaito drew a finger over the detective's chest and realised that he had to stop immediately since the detective had already made him horny and he wouldn't be able to endure any more teasing from Shinichi's side, unless he wanted the detective to know exactly how badly he wanted him, but before Kaito had even decided if he should gas him or not Shinichi had freed his arms and slammed the thief to the floor.

The detective ran back the way he'd come, blushing madly and feeling his heart race in his chest while he wondered if the thief teased him like that because he knew that he was gay, loved him, liked him or because he simply enjoyed the teasing the same way he'd enjoyed the banter they'd had as Conan. Shinichi closed the shirt as he ran, realising that his tie was gone and groaned in irritation; he was certain that it would somehow get him in trouble, again, at least Hakuba would see that it was gone. He ran, and then suddenly the floor gave in and he fell until he reached a pool of water. Blue lights were turned on inside the room and he crawled up from the fluid.

He was in a very small room, with blue walls, blue ceiling, blue floor, a blue door and Shinichi blinked against the strong light as he made his way to the door, picking up the emerald and checked so that KID hadn't exchanged it. He sighed and placed it in an evidence bag before he opened the door and stared into a pink room with no viable exit.

"You've got to be kidding me," he sighed as he observed the blue room; there were no exits other than the door to the pink room. He couldn't even see the trapdoor from which he must've fallen through. Shinichi closed his eyes and clapped once, watching how the trapdoor's edges became slightly redder. He entered the pink room and closed the door with a bang, observing how the room seemed to have lots of hidden doors in the walls. He walked up to the one which was on the opposite side and pushed. Shinichi squeaked as he became covered in blue glitter; the 'hidden door' had been a trap, and the detective sighed.

'_Stop whining and push them all!'_ Pandora grinned and Shinichi grumbled as he pushed the button to a stud in his sleeve. He went to the middle of the floor and calculated how he would kick it so that it would hit as many as possible. He kicked it hard against the first and it kept bouncing around the room, activating the different glitter traps. A loud clang was heard and the entire floor started to move, until a small gap was shown by the wall.

Shinichi walked down the dark stairs and opened a door at the end of them, and glared; the room was orange, a horrible, neon orange, which hurt his eyes. He glowered at it suspiciously, realising that the floor and walls were soft, jagged and had lots of slits, cracks and gaps. The middle of the room had gigantic nets covering from wall to wall and ceiling to floor, splitting the room in four rectangles. Shinichi narrowed his eyes suspiciously as he saw something and let the door slide closed, suddenly realising that the exit was upside down, in the ceiling.

'So, Pandora, you want to take over?'  
>'<em>No thanks, I'm good,'<em> the gem shivered and thought back to the haunted house-themed floor, _'it's awfully quiet on the radio.'  
><em>'Now that you mention it... The signal must be blocked... Can you even imagine what the objective of this 'game' even is?'  
>'<em>Have fun? And keep the emerald away from larcenous magicians?'<em> A strange sound of something rattling was heard and the floor started to tip over.  
>'Oh, it revolves, how nice,' Shinichi thought ironically and ran to the middle before he was forced to hang into the floor-turned-wall.<p>

'_Geronimo!'_ Pandora called out as Shinichi pushed away from the wall and fell into the net. He crawled and climbed, once failing in getting to the other side of the net so that he was forced to hold on as he became upside down. Shinichi slowly made his way to the door and opened it as it was on its side, the room stopped and he crawled inside what seemed to be a large tube. When he was about the close the door he saw the thief enter the room, covered in lots of glitter; he was panting and looked around the room in obvious frustration.

"Hi, Kaitou KID-niisan!" the detective called out in a childish voice and the thief jolted his head up towards where the door was, "I hope you have a great time!" Shinichi pulled the door closed with a bang and felt how the tube was lowered until he saw multiple cylinders in front of him, spinning in different speeds and directions. Carefully he stood up and then made a run for it, falling as he reached the first one and rolled around it, until he managed to get into a larger, slower moving one. He ran through the tubes and got to the other side, where he opened the door to a purple room, only to be covered in purple slime.  
>"Never give up," Shinichi mumbled as he entered with a sigh and saw how the floor started to move in different directions, "Sherlock never gave up."<p>

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><p>Saguru checked his watch a bit worriedly; they had been there for 5 hours, 32 minutes, 16 seconds and 51 milliseconds, and half of the taskforce were standing with him while the rest were nowhere to be found, however, from time to time a square door in the wall would open and another member would crawl out, completely exhausted. A hatch slammed open, but this time from the floor, and everyone turned around to see a hand covered in many different colours of slime, glitter and feathers. Someone pulled themselves up and to Saguru's surprise it was Kudou. The dark haired detective closed the hatch and collapsed on his back on top of it while he scraped away some slime from his face. The blonde Brit walked up to his side and looked down on him.<p>

"Kudou, are you okay?" the Detective of the East opened his eyes and stared at him.  
>"I have seen the end of the rainbow Dorothy. I took a trip down the rabbit hole, and fell into a swirl of colours, but I didn't drink them! I didn't have to... And now I think I'm colour-blind..." Saguru blinked confused at his statement.<br>"What happened to you?"  
>"Spider webs, man-eating monsters, revolving rooms, doors in the ceilings and on the walls, traps, secret passageways, KID, jumping on pillars, diving in water, glued floors, swimming through slime and glitter, fire pits, lights and colour. Ooh, so many colours! And so bright!"<br>"Are you high?"  
>"Do I look high?" Kudou frowned and dug around in his pocket, "I don't know, but I do have the emerald." The detective pulled up a gooey evidence bag with an emerald inside and held it out to him. Saguru eyed it and took it in one edge and immediately handed it to a taskforce member.<br>"Where's your tie?"  
>"I don't know!" the detective called out in irritation, "I think KID stole it... But at least I won." Kudou eyed him with a frown, "why aren't you covered in anything?"<br>"I got trapped in the maze," Saguru answered with a smile, "so I've been sitting there for 3 hours 24 minutes, 5 seconds and 3 milliseconds, looking myself in the mirror until Nakamori freed me."  
>"Sweet, you should try the pink room with no exit... I can't actually believe that KID went through all the trouble to create such an insane heist."<br>"He didn't," Saguru answered with a smile, "the museum hasn't been going too well, so the owner decided to place all the artwork in one end of the building and rebuild the fun house. It's still a few years away from opening, but apparently KID and his assistant gave him a lot of help by creating some insane stuff and having this heist. However, I don't think that revolving rooms or fires are going to be there when they open."  
>"Oh, I see..."<p>

"I heard that the emerald is safe! Who has it?!" Nakamori roared as he showed up and everyone looked around.  
>"I gave it to Hakuba," Shinichi stated.<br>"I gave it to Takao,"  
>"Takao-kun has been with me the entire time."<br>"No!" Shinichi groaned as he realised that KID still got the jewel, just after he relaxed and thought that 'the game' was over.

* * *

><p>Saguru changed from his school uniform to his gym clothing and just as he was about to walk out he saw how Kuroba pulled off his uniform, revealing his back, and almost immediately covered up with his gym clothes, but Saguru frowned at what he'd seen.<br>"Kuroba," the Brit said as they walked into the gym and the prankster threw him a glance to let him know that he was listening, "I heard that Kaitou KID was caught by Kudou and that Kudou obtained his revenge on said thief's back for the heist note KID drew on his." The magician blinked puzzled while Saguru smirked amused and continued.

"'_Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram or the most intricate analysis, and I am in my own proper atmosphere. I crave mental exaltation. That is why I have chosen my own particular profession, -or rather created it, for I am the only one in the world.'_"

"It's actually rather fitting for Kaitou KID... You didn't know that you have somewhat of a Sherlock Holmes' quote on your back, written in Kudou's handwriting?" Saguru asked quietly and watched how the thief's eyes widened before he ran to the restroom, but the blonde Brit then frowned; if Kudou had managed to get Kuroba unconscious long enough to write on his back he'd been able to uncover the thief's identity, but had chosen not to. Why? What was Kudou doing? He did want to catch the thief, didn't he?

* * *

><p>AN:  
>*If anyone recognises the creature from Pandora's memories then you will know what people created Pandora, which you can confirm by looking up their language and comparing their writing with the writing on this story's image. (This isn't actually important, just a bit of fun)<p>

**SubChapter. 4**  
><strong>Night Terrors<strong>  
>fanfiction(.net)s/8075943/5/


	44. Play me the Violin

A/N: This chapter... o.O ... What happened? I must've had a stroke and gone insane... Well here you have an early update! Again!

Do you know how _hard_ it is with the words; lie, lied, laid, lain, lay, lying, laying? I have no clue of how to use them! Which is which?!  
>And my modern English grammar book is remarkably unhelpful...<br>Bleah... I think I used the correct one in this chapter, but who knows... I have to read the grammar on these words every time I used them, but I think that I mostly misunderstand.

Internet, why U use so hard words to explain grammar?

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

Uploaded: 2012-08-08  
>Revised: 2014-09-16<br>Chapter rating: K+  
>Words: 3,500<p>

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><p><strong>Chap. 44<br>Play me the Violin**

Shinichi scowled in annoyance and sent the reporters a genuine death glare, which made them flinch and keep their distance even though they kept filming him.

Five heists had gone by, no emerald had been returned and the taskforce were under a lot of pressure from both owners and the press, sadly enough everyone knew that Kaitou KID wanted Shinichi to play, which also made the press want to hear him. The owners only scowled at him and questioned, often in a harsh voice, why he didn't play; it was just a song.

The thief had begun holding his heists at seven every evening, forcing the taskforce to be without the family dinner and simply have a bento, but that also made him keep his promise, since Aoko made both her father's and Hakuba's bentos, and Kaito was always there. Shinichi enjoyed their small talks, but was saddened by the short time they had, since Aoko only came to deliver the dinners and then dragged him away almost immediately.

The detective had decided that he would play the violin, as long as there were no reporters, microphones or cameras around, but that was what Kaitou KID wanted to be around. In irritation Shinichi had even kicked his football at him, hitting the unprepared thief on camera. He had, however, been lucky and no one knew _where_ the ball came from, aside from Hakuba who sent him an amused glance when he looked around like everyone else, but the thief had disappeared immediately afterwards, leaving the emerald untouched and announced that he would come for it the very next day.

* * *

><p>Hakuba raised an eyebrow at Shinichi's continued glare and eyed the violin case on his back, before he returned his gaze to the watch, observing how it was time for the countdown. When everyone reached zero the thief appeared in a cloud of smoke and Shinichi snuck out through the door, unaware that one of the cameramen had seen him and silently followed.<p>

* * *

><p>Shinichi stared around the huge room with mostly armours inside, knowing that KID would use it as an escape route while everyone else thought that he was going to walk out the front door like he'd done the last two times. The detective knew that it had been because of the snowstorm, but today it was a calm day, so he knew that KID would use his glider. Shinichi placed the case on the floor near the wall in the far end of the room and opened it with a sigh, but as he was tuning the instrument he felt watched and observed the room, seeing nothing suspicious, unaware that the cameraman had hidden behind a bush at the feet of a rearing horse in armour with a knight on top.<p>

He played a few easy pieces while he waited and enjoyed the way the sound echoed inside the room, but stopped as he heard running steps and a grinning KID entered.  
>"How do you always know which way I am going to chose as an exit?" the thief asked as he made his way through the room.<br>"Oh, well," Shinichi began nonchalantly, "you know that it isn't very hard to predict the great Kaitou KID-sama's escape routes."  
>"Ah! You're hurting me!" the thief answered theatrically with a hand over his heart, but then grinned amused.<br>"Are the taskforce chasing a dummy this time?"  
>"Yes, of course, and we have a blonde ceiling detective watching an empty display case."<br>"How fun for Hakuba," the Detective of the East muttered and placed the violin on his shoulder, watching how the thief's eyes glimmered expectantly. "I just hope you know that the piece you interrupted isn't short."

"I've got all the time in the world," the thief grinned and seated himself on a display case full of swords, "whenever you're ready." Shinichi scowled, but then sighed to himself as he started to play the first part, remembering the annoyance and irritation he felt when no one listened to him as Conan, when they talked to him condescendingly and ignored him because he was a child. He poured all of the frustration from the endless chase of the BO into the song, playing the harsh and angry melody, which then with a perfect crossover became joyful and happy as the BO was taken down. The joyful melody quickly became slow and lingering, each note ending into the other and soon became full of the love and longing he felt for the thief. Every note echoed in the large room, intensifying the loneliness and frustrated pain Shinichi felt from being away from him.

Kaito stared at the detective completely mesmerised, unable to think about anything else than the beauty of how he played with his eyes closed and slightly moved with the song, how he faintly furrowed his eyebrows and pursed his lips as he poured his soul into the music. The magician wiped away a tear and forced his poker face into full effect; he would not break down and cry, that much he promised himself. The song ended rather abruptly and caused him to break out of his trance and stare at the detective in confusion.

"There, now hand over the jewels, you stupid thief," Shinichi muttered quietly, but in the now entirely quiet building, he could just as well have shouted and KID would've heard him perfectly.  
>"No! It can't end there!" the thief exclaimed dissatisfied, "don't you know the end? Should I wait a month so that you can learn it and then play it?"<br>"There is no more to the song, there is no continuation."  
>"There has to be! Who wrote it? I have to check and then call you on your lies!" the thief called out and Shinichi smiled amused at his distress.<br>"I know that there's no end, because I'm the one who wrote it," he explained slowly and KID blinked.  
>"Ooh, so that's why you didn't want to play it," KID mumbled slowly and Shinichi's smile disappeared immediately as he realised that KID now knew that the song was about himself and his feelings, and there was an uncomfortable silence.<p>

"I've played the violin," Shinichi stated with a glare, "give me the jewels."  
>"I know that you don't have a girlfriend," the thief began with a frown, ignoring the detective, and then unexpectedly asked; "are you a werewolf?"<br>"Haah?" Shinichi stared at him, wondering where that came from, "what?" KID gripped his wrist and Shinichi immediately went through every piece of information he had on werewolves and wrists, instantly receiving an image of a werewolf chaining itself in a basement in order to not harm anyone, and then remembered the restraints in his bed that he'd been too lazy to remove and flushed deeply. "You bastard! Stop sneaking into my house!" he roared in embarrassment, knowing what the thief must be thinking that he had some kind of strange fetish, but then suddenly frowned. "I knew that it was you who stole my cakes! No one but you can sneak in and out without leaving a single trace!"

"Oh, of course!" KID said with a grin, "your cakes are delicious! Compared to the other poison you make in that kitchen." The thief was joking, Shinichi could hear it in his voice, but despite that fact he tilted his head down in shame, hiding his eyes behind his bangs. How many times had people told him that his food was uneatable? Ran told him, and added that the only thing he could cook was breakfast, Sonoko told him with glee, his teacher in cooking class, his classmates, even the Detective Boys had commented that his food didn't smell okay when Haibara tried to teach him how to make curry after they'd followed him around on a crime scene, but she'd told him that he was a lost cause. Why was it so hard to make food? It was just chemistry and he'd been training every day for weeks in order to be able to cook eatable food for his thief. Even Sherlock Holmes could cook food, but never, _never_, had it hurt that much to have it criticised. It was like KID had driven a knife into his chest and twisted it; he couldn't breathe.

Kaito watched the detective tilt his head down, and realised that he must've struck a nerve; he'd been prepared to run after the remark on his food, thinking that Shinichi would tell him that it was for whomever he loved and not for him, and the detective's food wasn't _that_ bad. He'd gotten a lot of better at cooking; it wasn't restaurant food, but it was okay.  
>"Meitantei-san?" he asked quietly and slowly neared the detective, knowing that he could explode any second. He waved a hand in front of his eyes, but before he had time to blink Shinichi had grabbed his wrist and slammed him with his stomach up against the wall.<br>"No foreplay today?" he found himself asking, wanting the normal flirting to begin and felt the detective take a harder grip around his wrists as he cuffed him and began reciting his rights.

"Kaitou KID, I'm placing you under arrest for grand larceny, property damage, breaking and entering, and a terrorist attack. You have the right to remain-,"  
>"Terrorist attack? What?"<br>",-silent. Anything you say or do, can and will be held against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney, and if you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Do you understand these rights I have just read to you?"  
>"What are you talking about? Terrorist attack?"<br>"_Do you understand these rights I have just read to you?!"  
><em>"Yes, mom. Now explain that about the terrorist attack!"  
>"What did you think would happen when you blew up a power station and darkened entire Osaka?"<br>"Oh, that... I forgot about that," Kaito muttered as he was pulled away from the wall, "are you going to hold my hands _all_ the way to the police station?"  
>"I know that you can't pick the lock on the cuffs if I'm holding into your fingers, so yes."<br>"But maa!" the thief complained and playfully resisted as they walked through the room, "the prison is so _boring_!"  
>"Take your punishment like a man, KID."<br>"This is for the comment about your food, isn't it?" Kaito threw a glance over his shoulder, "are you really going to throw me in jail for insulting your cooking skills? I lied, okay! Your food is delicious," the detective glared at him, "okay, maybe not, but it's not _that_ bad!" Kaito grinned, "release me, please?"  
>"Are you serious? You're breaking into my house and eat my food? What's wrong with you?" Shinichi asked as he pushed the thief out the door.<br>"No, you can keep your food, but the cakes are mine! Ao! You're holding too hard! Don't damage my magician's fingers!"

The cameraman, Yoshiaki, blinked at the strange display he'd seen once the other occupants of the room had left and he stopped filming, hearing an angry shout from the way they'd gone and then watched how two white-clad thieves ran through the room.  
>"Be more careful around that detective!" demanded the one wearing a mask.<br>"Sorry sorry, he's just way too fun to tease," the other grinned and they both vanished out the window before Yoshiaki even had the time to turn on his camera.  
>Quickly he walked to where the shout had sounded and found the Detective of the East hanging upside down, holding himself that way with the help of his legs and biting into the rope in order to free his wrists. The teenager heard him and fell back to the floor with his feet.<br>"Hello," he said and eyed him suspiciously, "can you get me down?" Yoshiaki nodded and placed the camera on the floor as he helped the detective.

"Thank you," Shinichi muttered and eyed the camera as he rubbed his wrists; the cameraman came from the direction of the room, so he immediately suspected that he had caught everything on tape. The teenager took up the camera and began erasing it, whether it had him or not.  
>"No!" the man called out and Shinichi pushed him away as he tried to take the camera back, "that's worth gold!"<br>"And it's my pride getting insulted by a thief."  
>"But please! Let me keep the violin-part! It was beautifully played!" Shinichi stopped erasing and stared at the man.<br>"With two conditions; you are not to tell anyone who wrote the music and you are not to tell anyone what happened afterwards."  
>"Deal!"<br>"If I find any of this conditions broken I will find you, and I will drag out any dirt, whether it's yours or anyone in your family's, and I will make it my personal mission to completely destroy that person, or persons if I find more than one."  
>"Yes, sir," he replied almost frightened and Shinichi checked where he was in the erasing-process.<p>

* * *

><p>Shinichi knew that he was sulking from the thief's comment, but that didn't stop him from refusing to get out of bed the very next day. He cut the call he got from Sonoko off before she could finish scolding him for missing 'his lunch date'. Shinichi did not <em>have<em> a lunch date, not that he knew of in the first place. He was supposed to meet Ran for a coffee, but she had a high fever, so he never went to Poirot, instead he brought every single Sherlock Holmes-novel he had up to his room and went to the kitchen and carried 'his poison' up as provisions during the read. He was very pleased when he started reading; he hadn't been doing his favourite pastime for months since he was always doing schoolwork, solving cases, planning for evil organisations and cooking, but somewhere along the way he stopped reading. Now he finally had some time alone, and of course he forgot to check his watch as he became emerged into the world of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's.

* * *

><p>Saguru threw a glance to his watch despite knowing exactly what it showed and frowned in worry; Kudou was late, sure, he sometimes showed up in the last possible moment, but the last possible moment passed 5 seconds and 2 milliseconds ago, and he was already considering calling, which made him wonder about how close they'd become. The Brit closed the watch again and moved a bit uncomfortably as he realised that he was more attached to the detective than what he'd liked to admit, heck, they'd been acting like some of the insane Kaitou KID-fangirls over his Sherlock Holmes clothing, acted out scenes from the books and were even considering going to an convention dressed as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, however, they were currently having a little disagreement over who would be who, but Kudou's resistance at being Dr. Watson was growing weaker, and if the thief ever found out how Saguru had behaved he'd die of embarrassment.<p>

"Oi Hakuba!" Kuroba grinned at him as he walked up to him with his hands lazily placed behind his neck.  
>'Just think of the devil,' the blonde thought and asked, "yes, Kuroba?"<br>"Where's your friend?"  
>"Apparently not here."<br>"Thank you, Mr. Obvious, I haven't noticed," the thief muttered and they stared at each other for a while.

"You're not going to leave until you get to talk to him, are you?" he asked and Kuroba grinned the smile that promised that no good would come, which was just as much a confirmation as a verbal response, "you're enjoying danger a bit too much, don't you?"  
>"Yes, but he's not dangerous," the magician stated and Saguru stared at him, demanding an explanation, "he's here for the thrill and puzzles, he doesn't care about anything else, unlike you who wants to protect."<br>"Is he really not interested in catching thieves?"  
>"Well, he's a <em>homicide<em> detective, but you should call him," the thief tilted his head with a grin while his eyes glittered dangerously, "go on, call him." Saguru glared at the obvious command, but did as the magician requested.  
>"He's not answering," Saguru muttered, feeling somewhat offended, not knowing that the detective hadn't even heard his phone.<p>

Kaito pouted; was Shinichi not there because of the comment about his food? Wasn't that to go a little overboard with the punishment? Kaito surely didn't deserve something _that_ harsh, and the befriending process had gone great up until that moment too, so if Shinichi decided to not show up anymore Kaito would lose the little ground he'd gained and that was something he could _not_ accept, so as soon as the heist was finished he went to the Kudou mansion, seeing that there were reporters all over the place and barely managed to make his way inside without discovery.

* * *

><p>Kaito stood in the doorway to Shinichi's room with his arms folded across his chest and glared at the detective, sitting in his bed in pyjamas and reading.<br>"Meitantei-san, I can't believe that you dumped me for a book!" he complained in a whiny voice and waited for a witty retort, but the teenager only changed the page, "oi-oi, can you hear me?" Kaito frowned and tilted his head. "Are you ignoring me because I said that your food was bad? Shinichi?" The thief muttered silently to himself before he yelled, "Shinichi!" The detective was thoroughly startled and he stared up at the thief in terror before deadpanning.

"KID-san," he greeted and closed the book after looking at the page-number.  
>"You stood me up!"<br>"Huh?" Shinichi blinked confused, but then looked at his alarm clock, "so it seems."  
>"Oh, come on! It's because of the food remark, isn't it?" the thief saw how a delicious blush made its way into the detective's face and how an irritated frown soon followed.<br>"Wow, I feel strangely tired," he muttered, not even trying to hide the fact that it was a lie, and lay down on the side, facing away from the magician.

"Meitantei-san," Kato said cajoling and seated himself on the detective's bed, running a hand through his hair, "are you mad with me?" He watched gleefully how the blush spread to the teenager's ears and caressed the warm cheek.  
>"Stop that!" Shinichi demanded and swatted his hand away, causing Kaito to snicker and run an ungloved hand through his soft hair with a gentle smile, hearing the detective mutter something lowly, "okay, what do you want?"<br>"Just to sit here and touch you," he replied in a warm voice, speaking a half-truth, given that he'd like to do more than just touch him, and for a long while there was no reply, long enough to make him wonder if the detective had actually fallen asleep.

"Seriously," Shinichi murmured with a low voice, feeling how the thief's ministrations began to make his brain hazy from the pleasurable sparks that ran from his head throughout his body, travelling along his spine as shivers, "I don't believe you, I think you're just out to tease me, but I'll bite." Shinichi turned around, wishing that the thief could stay where he was, or get in bed, but he never knew that the magician's breath was caught at the sight of him.

All Kaito could see was that slightly ruffled hair and flushed cheeks, his eyes seemed to be even bluer than before and definitely darker, and he saw no hostility in them, only warmth and love, but that might have just been what he wanted to see.  
>"Sorry that I missed your heist, I was sulking," he continued honestly, "I know that my food is crap, but it hurt coming from you."<br>"I'm sorry, and your cooking isn't _that_ bad. You've gotten a lot better, you know," KID smiled.  
>"I was going to come to the heist, but I kind of got caught up in other stuff," Shinichi smiled embarrassed and sighed, "I'll be there the next time."<br>"You better be," the thief grinned as he got up, "otherwise I'm not responsible for my actions!" Shinichi snorted at his statement.

"So you're going home now?"  
>"Nope, I'm hungry! I'm going to raid your fridge!" he ran out of the room and down the stairs followed by Shinichi.<br>"I don't want to treat anyone to food that tastes bad, so don't you dare eat it! Take a cake instead!"  
>"Never!"<p>

Shinichi chased the laughing maniac all over the house until he had him cornered and forced him to flee out the window in order to avoid a football bruise. The ball was quickly kicked outside through the same window, in the hope that it would hit him; it didn't, but a skilled paparazzi caught it on camera. When Shinichi went back to bed he found the emerald underneath his pillow and he sighed as he placed it beside his alarm clock, intending to return it in the morning.

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><p>AN: I know that the Miranda warning is only used in America, but I thought that it made itself good in the story.


	45. Heart's Possession

A/N: I'm not happy with this chapter. *Pout* I was stuck and it became short...

Thanks for all the help with the grammar! I think I understand it now

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

Uploaded: 2012-08-12  
>Revised: 2014-09-16<br>Chapter rating: T  
>Words: 2,200<p>

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><p><strong>Chap. 45<br>Heart's Possession**

Kaito smiled at the detective through the surveillance cameras; he'd gotten him cooking classes with a woman said to be the best, and she only had a few students. It was funny how easy it was to enlarge her class with one more student, especially after he'd told her that it was for a friend, Kudou Shinichi, and that he was a hopeless case. Intrigued by the challenge and her obvious admire of the detective she'd accepted him. The thief grinned as he remembered the look on the detective's face when he read the note he left with the heist note and invitation to her classes; it had been most rewarding to see the surprise and joy, and after that, Kaito couldn't stop sighing as he thought about him. He'd been watching the first lessons the detective had and Shinichi seemed to observe Nakano Rimiko like he investigated crime scenes, which Kaito found hilarious. He'd decided that it was time to take more action, and if it wasn't for the fact that Nakamori had decided to buy a bento he'd invited the detective to a football game that evening.

The thief sighed; trying a serious relationship with the detective made him nervous despite the fact that he wasn't going to ask him out that very heist. There were no Snake or organisation to target him and Shinichi didn't seem like he wanted to put him in jail, even if he handcuffed him the last heist he'd attended and read him his rights, but there was still the fact that he _could _change his mind and hunt him seriously, which was bad if he'd revealed his identity.

Kaito glared at the Brit, who showed up and whispered something to Shinichi, and the moment the dark haired detective lit up and smiled widely with shining eyes Kaito decided that he _hated_ Hakuba, _despised_ him in a matter of fact, and he was forced to recognise that the detective might be in love with the blonde, given that there is no reason as to why Shinichi couldn't lie about who he loved or if they'd met, to a complete stranger. Kaito_ did not_ like the eager way in which Shinichi spoke with Hakuba and touched his arm, and found the fact that they were too far away from the camera for him to read their lips insufferable. Everything got much harder if Shinichi was in love with Hakuba and Kaito rubbed his temples in frustration; how would he do it? How would he make a detective fall for a thief?

The magician turned off all of the lights in the building with a frown and at the same time figured that he really had to find out _exactly_ who had seduced Meitantei-san and then _steal _the detective's heart from whoever held it, even if it was Hakuba. Kaito was a thief after all, and stealing was something he was the unrivalled leader over; no one was as good as Kaitou KID.

When the lights flickered on all cameras showed an empty building despite the fact that the thief was standing on top of the display case surrounded by his taskforce, tauntingly holding the green emerald in his hand.

"KID!" Nakamori roared and pointed to him, and just as the taskforce made a run for him the thief grinned evilly, causing them to hesitate for a moment. Kaito took a grip into the hat's brim and pulled it down. The brim seemed to grow bigger as it devoured its owner, until only the normal-sized hat was lying on top of the glass, causing the officers to gape in bewilderment.

Shinichi, who stood furthest away from the target threw a glance at Hakuba and then watched how a taskforce member carefully picked up the white hat like it was a bomb, revealing a single dove underneath it.  
>"He must've gone down through it," the Brit muttered and made his way to the display case as the dove disappeared in a cloud of smoke, but then landed on top of Shinichi's head.<p>

"Hello Kaoru-chan, how have you been?" the detective mumbled to the bird while covering his mouth and felt how it made a nest in his hair. Hakuba pressed his hand down on top of the glass and the thick sheet of plastic which KID had placed there gave in.

The blonde showed the police a hole in the display case, which had been obscured by mirrors, but by the time they'd found the hole in the floor the thief had already made his way up into the large dome-shaped ceiling and hung in it, staring down on them.

The Brit took a step back from the case and Kaito pushed a button on his remote, causing the detective to become concealed in smoke and then raised into the air beside the thief.  
>"KID," he muttered a greeting and sighed while the thief hummed.<br>"My lovely Tantei-chan," Kaito grinned and the detective scowled at him, "you need to be _punished_."  
>"For not letting you meet Kud-," he began asking, but smoke covered them and the detective squeaked undignified as he felt light touches and then fell back to the floor.<p>

Saguru swallowed and grimaced at the feeling; he didn't have his own clothes anymore, as he was dressed in a long glistening white gown with red ornaments and a blue choker-like collar, full of pearls. The detective stood frozen, strangely enough wondering if he should pull up the dress and take a look at the design of the high heels, but he was afraid that he might fall if he tried. Disturbed, he was frozen and stared at the chaos that began as the thief bombarded the taskforce with colours. He threw a glance at the Detective of the East and found that he seemed to ignore everything in order to talk with a dove, and when the last officer fell to the floor fast asleep the thief turned to the detective.

"That's not fair! No hostages!" Kaito called out and pointed to Kaoru who sat on the detective's hand and enjoyed the attention as he cautiously petted her.  
>"She's not a hostage," Shinichi answered smiling while he picked up something from his pocket and the magician whistled for the bird, but Kaoru only stroke her head against the detective's hand and Kaito gaped while he found himself jealous of his own pet.<br>"Traitor!" he called out to Kaoru and watched how Shinichi gave her something to eat, while the thief suppressed the wish to pout and stomp childishly; it was unfair that everyone seemed to get along with Shinichi when Kaito wanted him the most.

Saguru's mouth went dry as he stared in fear at the detective when he thought he understood what the other was doing; making KID believe that he was harmless, and then befriend the thief's doves could make them betray their master inadvertently if they ever met in real life and would allow him to know exactly who he was, or he could place a transmitter on one and then simply follow Kuroba home, unless Kuroba was right and he really didn't want to catch him. Saguru also had to take into consideration that the detective had chosen to write on Kuroba's back instead of revealing his identity.

"Well, maybe she is a hostage after all," Shinichi smirked as he held the dove in his hands, "and you know how hostage-situations work. You give me something I want and I release my captive." Kaito pulled out the emerald with a sigh and threw it to the detective, who easily caught it and examined it.  
>"Good," he said and threw the dove into the air as he ran for the door. Kaito couldn't help but to smile as he quickly followed; whenever he and the detective were alone Shinichi would taunt him and use his gadgets, making it even harder to win.<p>

He chased the teenager through the corridor and saw how he moved both arms in front of himself, hiding the fact that he pressed a small silvery square and caught the small ball that came out of it. Just before he passed a rounded pillar he threw the ball at the wall and extended his arm, catching the marble column and used both his strength and speed to spin around it. Kaito tensed when Shinichi kicked the ball and then dodged it by rolling to the side, but when he got up the detective had already continued running.

When he reached the stairs Shinichi yanked in the door and growled when it didn't open, so he pulled out the lock-picking tool, but just as the lock clicked he was slammed up against the door.  
>"Gotcha!" the thief panted as he restrained Shinichi's arms behind his back with ropes and caught his breath.<p>

"Damn it, you're fast," Kaito muttered while the detective smiled, enjoying the closeness more than he should.  
>"Or you're just slow," Shinichi commented as he threw a challenging grin over his shoulder and Kaito returned it in full.<br>"Why wouldn't I want to chase you? You're such a nice peace to stare at," he murmured while deliberately pushing his chest against Shinichi's back and brushed his hand against his thigh as provocatively as he could while he searched for the jewel in his right pocket and gleefully watched how a bit of colour made its way to his cheeks.

"Ooh, is chasing detectives and feeling them up a hobby of yours?" the detective asked smugly and Kaito grinned.  
>"And what if it is? What are you going to do about it?" Shinichi blushed deeper from the thief's voice as he whispered in his ear and felt pleasant shivers run down his neck when the thief's warm breath tickled his neck and shell of his ear, "but you should know that Tantei-san has a girlfriend and that he's not interested in guys."<br>"What?! Me? Interested in Hakuba? Are you insane?" Shinichi stared over his shoulder in shock and the thief tilted his head as he narrowed his eyes and hummed.  
>'<em>Confess!'<em> Pandora grinned inside his head, '_he won't believe you! He'll just think that you're screwing with him! Say something like; Well, maybe I fell for a thief in white! Or; Well, maybe I fell in love with you!'  
><em>'Shut up, Pandora. It's not part of the plan!'  
>'<em>Your plan sucks! It takes too long! Hakuba won't let us talk to Kaito alone!'<br>_'Who came up with the plan?'  
>'<em>You! Eh, hrm... Well, I did, and you helped,'<em> Pandora blushed from shame, '_Damn it! I suck! And my plan sucks because I do!... I'm going to shut up now...'_

"I can't seem to figure out who made you fall for them," the thief mumbled and hummed as he studied the detective's beat-red face, "is it _really_ neither Tantei-san nor Tantei-han. Then who is it?" Kaito sneaked a hand into the left pocket as he spoke and looked for the jewel. He ignored the handcuffs, pen and notebook, but found a spherical object which felt oddly familiar so he pulled out. The thief blinked once he saw the small, beige egg with the same design as his white ones.  
>"Tell me one thing though," Kaito began again the detective had time to answer, "you're going to dates with Tantei-san, but slimes him on heists and makes me look guilty for it; why?"<br>"We're not dating," Shinichi muttered and grimaced by the thought of a relation with the blonde detective, "and as for me sliming him, you have no proof that I can't deny."

"Aw, come on," the thief muttered and spun the detective around, holding into his shoulders with a firm grip, "where's the emerald?" Shinichi smirked, but didn't answer, so Kaito more than willingly started to search for it; first going for hidden pockets in his sleeves and then slowly feeling down his chest. Kaito concentrated hard in his poker face as he felt the detective's chest expand and contract as he breathed, not allowing Shinichi to see any emotion and trying to hold back the desire to kiss his tempting lips or gaze into his dangerously blue eyes. The thief's hands reached below his waist and Kaito wanted to groan in disappointment as he found the jewel at the end of his shirt.

"You sliming Tantei-san makes no sense to me," he stated and hastily took the emerald.  
>"Well," Shinichi smirked confidently and the dark suggestiveness in his voice caused Kaito to make the mistake and look up from the emerald in his hand, only to find himself hopelessly trapped in the intensely blue gaze of his love. He noticed that the entire world seemed to fall away while the only thing he could see was Shinichi's deep eyes and smile as he leaned slightly forward, sneakily trying to see if the thief's pupils were dilated or not and went halfway with Pandora's plan, "maybe because I want you <em>all <em>to myself."

Kaito felt how his poker face immediately came inches from cracking, and in panic he knew that he had to do something fast, otherwise it would fall away completely, so he did that first thing that came to mind.

* * *

><p>AN: Look-look a horrible cliffhanger...


	46. Princess Saguru and the Guardian

A/N: How about an early update as an excuse for an evil cliffhanger? It's longer! With a side order of insanity.

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

Uploaded: 2012-08-15  
>Revised: 2014-09-16<br>Chapter rating: T  
>Words: 3,200<p>

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><p><strong>Chap.46<br>Princess Saguru and the Guardian **

Shinichi gasped as the bomb the thief had dropped exploded and covered them both in smoke, but before he even had the time to classify the smoke as white or pink he felt how his body moved without him doing anything. The detective blinked as the mist faded away and he realised that he was sitting on his knees on the floor with ropes restraining his entire body while KID grinned at him.

"Be a good boy," the thief said in a baby-voice like he was talking to a dog, "Sit! Good boy, now beg!" Shinichi felt his eye twitch in annoyance as he listened to the voice in his head, laughing like there was no tomorrow.  
>'<em>He made us sit as a begging dog. This opportunity it too rare to pass up on!'<em> Pandora laughed and the detective deadpanned as he directly knew what the gem would ask, _''bark, Shinichi, bark!'  
><em>'Never!' Shinichi thought and saw how the thief suddenly held in something that looked horribly much like a dog treat.

"I'll never eat that if that's what you're thinking!" Shinichi glared at the small, brownish, bone-shaped treat, but the thief only grinned in amusement and placed it on the detective's head.  
>"Sta~ay," Kaito grinned as Shinichi shook his head, trying to get the treat off, but failing in doing so as it was now glued on top of his ruffled hair, "good boy!"<p>

'_Who is for Shinichi barking?'_ Pandora called out and shot his hand into the air inside his own world, _'I am!'  
><em>'I'm not!' Shinichi muttered while the thief placed large German Shepherd ears on top of his head, unaware that there were large amounts of glue on them.  
>'<em>That means that I win!'<br>_'It's one against one! How do you win!?'  
>'<em>Firstly; my idea is fun! Secondly,'<em> Pandora grinned, _'I'm counting KID's vote too!'  
><em>'Unfair! And I won't do it!' the detective grumbled and glared at the thief.  
>'<em>What if I beg? Please! Do it for me!'<em> Shinichi sighed as he listened to the gem beg in any way possible and quickly ending up showering him with compliments.

'Fine!' he called out in his head, shutting Pandora up, and at the same time gasped as the thief glued something along his spine to his lower back, which he had to guess was a tail. The thief grinned at the glaring detective; it was vastly entertaining for him to watch Shinichi have what seemed like an internal turmoil while Kaito slowly dressed him as a dog.

"Who's a good boy? Yes, yes you are," Kaito said in the same voice and admired his work, while realising that Shinichi probably would look much more sensual in a cat-outfit even though the protectiveness and loyalty was more like that of a dog's, and what was better than a police dog?

Kaito's musings were suddenly interrupted as he heard the detective hum darkly, as low as his vocal cords allowed him, and Kaito realised confused that Shinichi was actually growling at him. As by Pandora's order Shinichi barked once, causing the gem to clap his hands laughing, and Kaito to lose his poker face for a second in order to stare at the detective in complete shock, but then break down entirely.

Despite the humiliation of barking it was satisfying for Shinichi to hear the thief's ringing laughter as he rolled on the floor with tears falling from his eyes and it didn't seem like he knew if he should try to crawl away or simply say where he was.  
>"Oh! That's-," he cackled as he held his hands over his cheeks, "it hurts!"<br>"Stupid!" he rolled around. "Stupid Meitantei!" the thief managed to crawl a few inches before he rolled to his back again, holding his stomach and gasping for air. A little worried Shinichi looked at him; it almost sounded like he was suffocating. "You!" he forced out though the laughter, "I can't believe it! You, Kudou Shinichi, barked!" KID hastily drew a deep breath of air and continued to laugh as the taskforce bolted out from a door at the other end of the corridor led by Nakamori.

Kaito pulled out his card gun and watched how the colourful officers hesitated as he pointed it towards them. The cards were dangerous and could kill if he shot them wrong, and when he was laughing he pretended that he couldn't aim properly so the police could tell that it was risky to approach.  
>"Stay away!" the thief laughed heartily as he waved with the gun, but then fired at a bucket near the stairway at end of the corridor, which he'd placed out earlier. The bucket fell and the fluid, looking a lot like water, poured over the marble floor.<br>"KID! Put the gun _down_! You don't want to hurt anyone, do you?!" a pink Nakamori demanded despite saying it like a question as Kaito forced himself up from the floor to pull the detective away from the door.

"Bye Keibu-chan!" Kaito laughed and vanished into the stairwell.  
>"Get him!" the inspector called out and everyone sprinted towards Shinichi, but when they reached the fluid everyone slipped and slid past the detective and into the wall. Nakamori's stubbornness didn't allow him to rest for a second so he pushed his men away and ran after the thief.<p>

"Hey, Hiro," Shinichi said to the closest officer, who was busy with trying to get out from underneath the pile, "could you untie me?"

Kaito ran up the stairs, still chuckling and then stopped to catch his breath and set up a trap for the officers and the loud inspector. He didn't understand why he was laughing like that from the unexpected bark; it wasn't even funny! Even though it had made all tension he'd felt fall away at once, so maybe it had something to do with relief.  
>'Okay, maybe a little funny,' the thief thought as he changes his mind, finished the trap and started running again.<p>

* * *

><p>The cameramen on top of a couple of floors higher roof of an adjacent building zoomed in when a white-clad thief ran out on the heist building's roof, and the reporters immediately started to narrate what was going on as KID examined the emerald towards the moon. Soon enough the door was slammed open and Shinichi, who had been able to avoid the glue trap stood on the roof in the snow.<p>

In a luxury hotel room in America a woman gasped in delight and clasped her hands together as she watched the live broadcasted heist scene in hope of catching a glint of her baby-boy. Yukiko leaned forward and watched how her Shin-chan, dressed in ears and a tail, handcuffed the thief, but lost him as he avoided a change of hair colour. When Kaitou KID tried to run off the detective grabbed his arm and pulled him back to the middle where the dance began again. The woman tilted her head with a frown and pursed lips as they circled each other and seemed to talk. KID made a leap for the detective who tried to avoid him, but got his hair turned blonde, while the thief got thrown to the snow-covered roof with Shinichi on top. The detective cuffed him, but suddenly the thief vanished in an explosion of glitter and ribbons. Shinichi sat on the bare snow, now wearing a dog collar with a leash, and quickly surveyed his surroundings and Yukiko giggled, both mystified and excited by her revelation as her son got up from his knees and started to search for where Kaitou KID had gone.

The author that had been sitting and writing his new book heard the giggle but only registered what _kind_ of giggle it was until a couple of moments later. Yuusaku looked up from his laptop and glanced to his wife, hearing the same kind of giggle again, and he narrowed his eyes in suspicion; that kind of giggle meant that she knew something he didn't and she would probably not tell him.

"Yuu-chan!" she chirped as she turned off the TV and leaned over the back of the couch, "I want grandchildren to spoil!" Yukiko pouted and her husband nodded smiling.  
>"We'll have to wait until Shinichi gets together with Ran-san again," the man said gently to his wife and she snickered.<br>"Ran-chan has a boyfriend now!" Yukiko said as she got up from the couch, and when she came walking towards him she giggled the same kind of giggle, telling him that she still knew something he didn't.  
>"Yuu-chan," she smiled enticing and sat down in his lap, closing his computer at the same time, and wrapped her arms around his neck, "give me a baby!"<br>"Hah?!" Yuusaku blinked and tried to wrap his brain around what she just said.  
>"I want to have your baby," she elaborated and giggled the same kind of giggle again while she leaned with her forehead against his, but he only frowned.<br>"I thought you hated feeling fat while you were pregnant with Shinichi," the woman deadpanned at his statement and then pouted.  
>"But I want grandchildren!" Yuusaku couldn't for the world understand why his wife had suddenly decided that her son wouldn't have children.<br>"We should think this through before we get ahead of ourselves," he asserted and Yukiko sighed as she gave him a loving embrace, knowing that her son had lost interest for women and only had his sight set on Kaitou KID, and knowing that said thief held an interest in her baby-boy. Ooh, yes. She, Kudou Yukiko, had a sixth sense when it came to such things, and it was especially easy to tell when, in her eyes, both her son and the thief had been glowing with love for each other.

* * *

><p>Shinichi sighed when he massaged his head where the dog treat had been stuck; he'd torn it off without caring if he lost some hair in the process. He had no idea how the thief disappeared on the roof, but it was too cold to stay there for any longer period of time so he made his way down. On the way he helped half of the taskforce members get out of the glue and then he made his way back to the heist-room where he found Hakuba sitting on the floor, trying to get the heels off of his feet.<p>

"Nice dress, I like the shoes, very fitting for you," Shinichi smirked and the Brit glared.  
>"Thank you, I like your new hair colour, and the leash is a nice touch," he retorted.<br>"Thank you. It's new, leather. I thought I should try a new style. Does it fit me?" Hakuba smirked amused as Shinichi pulled a little in it, like he was straightening out a tie and placed the handle in his pocket.  
>"Yes, actually it does!" the blonde smiled, "can you help me? The idiot glued the shoes to my feet and there's a lock on them beside the ankle. Can you pick it?"<p>

"What made you change your mind about cosplaying Sherlock Holmes?" Shinichi asked as he got down on his knees and started to pick the lock.  
>"Well, you are the Modern Holmes, and I'd like to buy a Dr. Watson costume, so if I'm Watson this time I'll be Holmes the next, since I know that you're capable of reasoning," Hakuba sent him a hard glare and Shinichi got the point; they were going to go as Sherlock every second time they went to a convention. The dark haired teenager frowned as he was unable to open the lock.<br>"Takao told me that you made KID laugh. What did you do to him?" Saguru asked and Shinichi sighed as he was forced to give up.

"I just used my boyish charm," the detective tilted his head and gave Hakuba on of Conan's 'I'm just an adorable child, you can tell me everything'- looks, but the detective only scowled.  
>"I think that was one of the creepiest things I've ever seen you do," Hakuba stated as he took the tool and tried to pick the lock on Shinichi's collar, but couldn't so he muttered a curse and began to search for another way to get it off, ending up pulling a little in the leash just to annoy the usually dark haired detective.<p>

* * *

><p>Kaito was lying on the bed in his room, still dressed as Kaitou KID, but without the hat, panting from the run and feeling his heart pound in his chest; he couldn't get the sight of the detective out from his head and he kept repeating the sentence while reliving the memory in every detail, whereas the emerald was carelessly dropped on the floor just beneath the bed.<p>

"Well, maybe because I want you _all_ to myself," Kaito mumbled without a single sound and cooled his burning cheeks with his hands while seeing those hauntingly beautiful eyes and gorgeous features of his detective; was Shinichi even aware of what he was doing to him? Kaito couldn't decide, since he was painfully aware of how dense everyone seemed to think that the detective was when it came to love and romance. The thief dug his nails into the blue shirt and clenched it in his fist, feeling the fabric tighten around his torso.

"Shinichi," he breathed, hearing his own desire in his voice, and gritted his teeth. He couldn't take it anymore; the detective's teasing drove him into an absurdly uncontrolled state where he couldn't do anything else but to tremble with lust and hunger for Shinichi's touch. He couldn't even figure out who had started the flirting from the very beginning; him or the detective?

Absentmindedly Kaito closed the handcuffs around his wrists and held them up into the air as he studied them, feeling the cold metal against his skin.  
>"Shinichi," the thief whispered with warmth and allowed his arms to slowly fall to his chest, still cuffed and feeling how his body burned, "I've never met someone like you, and the feeling simply sneaked up on me; I wasn't prepared..." Kaito paused and shook his head in annoyance, "I found something more precious to me than all the beauty in the world, and now I've made my decision... It's over now, all I wanted to be was free, but now; please catch me... You're everything I want. I can't survive without you... The very life seems to drain from me by the mere thought of not being able to be with you." Kaito sighed agitated and closed his eyes, thinking that he came up with the lamest confessions of all time.<p>

* * *

><p>"BaKaito!" a loud voice called out and Kaito woke up as the front door was slammed shut, realising that he was still dressed in his outfit. In panic he jumped off his bed and produced a cloud of smoke just as his bedroom door was kicked open. Both Hakuba and Aoko stared at Kaito, who was curled up on the floor dressed in blue shirt, red tie and underwear, looking confused at his handcuffed wrists. Hakuba glanced around the room, immediately seeing the emerald on the floor and then returned his gaze to the magician who opened the handcuffs with a sheepish smile.<p>

"You slept like that?" he asked as he walked over to the magician's bed in order to hide the jewel from Aoko while a second cloud of smoke appeared and Kaito had dressed in school clothes.  
>"Well," the thief chuckled and blushed, "I was at the heist dressed as Kaitou KID, performing magic tricks to amuse people before it started."<br>"That doesn't surprise me at all, but what I was talking about was the cuffs," Hakuba picked up the emerald and monocle, placing the jewel in his pocket and handing the monocle over to the thief. Kaito opened his mouth to explain the cuffs, but was forced to close it as he couldn't come up with anything believable, since he obviously would never pretend that Kaitou KID was caught.

"I... Was tired and bored… And I cuffed myself just so that I would be able to train how to get out of them... But I must've been so tired that I fell asleep with them," Kaito muttered and sighed as he picked up his satchel.  
>"I don't get what you see in that thief!" Aoko growled and glared at the hat she'd picked up from the floor.<br>"He's a good magician, that's all," he answered and stuck his hand into his pocket in order to hold into the cuffs; he'd gotten another piece to his Shinichi collection, but he knew that he had to return them. Shinichi's tie was very distracting, but he couldn't play with it the same way as with the cuffs; he couldn't close it, open it or escape from it. The only thing he could do with a tie was touch it and wear it, and that could never be as distracting as a pair of cuffs.

"_That's all?!_ He _glued_ Saguru into a dress! He hasn't had time to sleep at all! I'm going to get that thief! Even if I have to beat him senseless with a mop!"

"Sloppy," Hakuba hissed annoyed in his ear as they left and Kaito scowled at him; if the Brit hadn't stopped hunting him he wouldn't actually have gotten that careless, but throughout the entire day all he could do was play with the cuffs. He didn't prank anyone, look into the girls' locker room or even look at anyone's panties. He didn't even notice that Hakuba was studying him suspiciously and observed how he gently caressed the handcuffs, only to wipe away his fingerprints, and then repeat the procedure.

The British detective felt worry rise as he couldn't remember the thief ever saying that he was in love with a woman, and he had an eidetic memory. He added up all the things he'd seen him do to Kudou, all the things he discarded because of Kuroba's personality, and could in the end only come to one conclusion after watching the thief smile at the cuffs; Kuroba was in love with Kudou, that was why he wanted to meet, talk and befriend the detective. That was why he hadn't pulled a single trick in front of the other and flaunted that he was Kaitou KID. That was why he let Kudou close to him, not because Kudou was good, but because the thief wanted him there.

Saguru sighed and realised that Kuroba would throw himself into trouble with the detective and that his judgement of Kudou's 'danger status' was biased by what he wanted it to be. That also meant that Aoko had been right; KID was gay, and in love with the Great Detective of the East, and that was why he wanted to hear him play. A ridiculous thought that the Modern Lupin had fallen for the Modern Holmes. Saguru sighed as he glared at the magician, who, he realised, had even kissed the detective, 'I bet Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Maurice Leblanc never saw that one coming. Sorry, Maurice, but Holmes caught Lupin's heart, and may soon drag him away in shackles. But what does that make me? The helper of Lupin? The one who tried to protect him from Holmes. Damn you, you insane thief. You made me your accomplice, and I wilfully followed you. What a mess...'

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><p>AN: Remember that Saguru told something to Shinichi that made him happy in the last chapter? Well there you have the answer ;)


	47. Late Night Conversations

A/N: Just like the title says.. This chapter became pretty much only conversations. Hope you'll like it anyway!

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

Uploaded: 2012-08-18  
>Revised: 2014-09-16<br>Chapter rating: T  
>Words: 2,300<p>

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><p><strong>Chap. 47<br>Late Night Conversations**

Kaito couldn't sleep. The only thing he did was turn from one side to the other and then stare at the handcuffs on his bedside table. He picked them up and held them, but realised that he wouldn't be able to get any sleep with them there so he sighed and got up.

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><p>Shinichi stood by a bookshelf and stared at the red text in it, sighing and wondering what it said, but he hadn't been able to decipher it, and it obviously wasn't the real story, Japanese nor English nor any language he'd checked in the real library.<br>"I can't concentrate!" he complained as he slammed the book shut, making Pandora, who was lying on the settee with his arms behind his head, open his eyes and observe him. Shinichi ran a hand through his hair and placed the book back into its place.  
>"<em>Then sleep deeper than this and ignore the books,"<em> the gem commented with a smile and Shinichi glared at him.  
>"I have no idea what you're going to do to me if I sleep deeper," the detective muttered and Pandora stuck out his tongue at his host's joke.<br>"_You know that I won't do anything. It doesn't matter if we're horny or not,"  
><em>"Yea, I know. It's just. I'm just frustrated that I didn't get a good look at KID's eyes," Shinichi sighed as he sat down on the edge of the settee and Pandora rolled his eyes.  
>"<em>Really? I had no idea! It wasn't like I was actually there..."<em> Pandora smirked at him and Shinichi gave him a thoughtful glare.

"Pandora?"  
>"<em>Yea?"<br>_"That's a woman's name, right?"  
>"<em>Ooh, that's low!"<br>_"What is, Pan-chan? You want a new skirt?"  
>"<em>You do realise that I can control your dreams<em>?"  
>"Ooh, what are you going to do, Pan-chan?" Shinichi smirked and bent closer, knowing that anything the gem did would strike back at himself.<br>"_Nightmares!"  
><em>"But that'll punish you too,"  
>"<em>I can take the pain of watching Kaito die in any way imaginable, since I know that it's a dream, whilst you think that it's reality,"<br>_"Lies!" Shinichi grinned, "You feel what I feel, so you'll be just as upset about the dreams!"  
>Pandora pouted and sighed as they both glared at each other for a while, until the gem gave him a perverted smile.<p>

"_You know that we could-,"_ he began slowly, but Shinichi immediately interrupted him.  
>"Say something perverted and I'm going to hit you!" Pandora rolled his eyes, knowing that it was nothing but empty threats.<br>"_Domestic abuse! I'll call the cops on you!"  
><em>"Domestic… Is there even a word for when two personalities inside a schizophrenic are beating each other?"  
>"<em>We're not schizophrenic, but what I wonder is if there are such a word for when they are sleeping together,"<em> Pandora grinned and Shinichi glared at him for a while, until he smirked, which caused the gem to blink confused before the detective attacked him.  
>"<em>No! Torture!"<em> Pandora laughed as Shinichi tickled him and the gem fought his host, "_somebody save me!"_

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><p>Kaito blushed as he stared at the sleeping detective, watching how the moonlight shone in his now dark hair and how his chest rose and fell in a slow, even pace. It had taken him at least half an hour to get inside as the amount of paparazzis had increased ever since the picture on him fleeing from the mansion had been sold. The thief swallowed and pulled up the handcuffs from his pocket; he had no reason to leave them in Shinichi's room. He was actually supposed to leave them in the kitchen with a note saying 'Thanks for the loan' but now he was standing in the bedroom, watching him sleep, and felling like a complete creep for doing it.<p>

The detective sighed as he moved his hand to his chest and Kaito became so startled that he almost hid underneath the bed. Cautiously, he walked up to the sleeping teenager and placed the cuffs on the bedside table, observing how the corner of the detective's mouth twitched in a small smile and how he placed the other arm above his head on the pillow.  
>'Oh, come on!' Kaito thought in annoyance, glancing from the cuffs to Shinichi's wrist and then to the headboard of the bed, 'you're doing this on purpose, aren't you?' The thief stared as he bit his tongue and made the move he knew was wrong.<p>

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><p>Even though Pandora was laughing he heard the noise of the cuffs closing, that noise didn't belong in the <em>empty<em> house and his eyes widened.  
>"<em>Shinichi! Wake up! Intruder! Intruder!<em>" the gem called out and the detective stared at him.  
>"What?"<br>"_There was a noise! Wake up now!"_ Pandora called out in pure terror, afraid that it was the creature from the vision, but logically knowing that it wasn't. The gem poked two fingers into Shinichi's chest and he received what felt like an electric shock through his body and opened his eyes only to stare up at Kaitou KID, sitting on top of him.  
>'<em>Oh, it was just him…'<em> Pandora muttered with a sigh and Shinichi pulled in his arms, but realised that he was cuffed to the headboard, '_sorry about freaking out…'_

"Is it just me, or are you happy to see me?" the thief grinned and Shinichi froze, realising that he was hornier than he'd known.  
>"<em>Get off!"<em> Shinichi called out, blushing madly and the thief lay beside him before he'd even finished the sentence.  
>'<em>Confess and tell him that he turned you on, or that you had a dream,'<br>_'Why do you keep telling me what to do?' Shinichi thought as he turned his back to the thief.  
>'<em>Just trying to help,'<em>

"Just like anyone I have dreams so I would appreciate it if you didn't jump me in the middle of the night," Shinichi muttered with burning cheeks and a silent 'thank you' to Pandora, knowing that he wouldn't have been able to come up with an explanation himself.  
>"Sorry sorry," Kaito grinned as he sent the detective's back a glance; he had dreams too, but they involved a very kinky Shinichi, sometimes as a cute and innocent uke while he other times was a devastating seme, and that was something he wasn't about to confess to the detective.<br>"Why are you here?" Shinichi asked and observed the thief over his shoulder, "except for the obvious sexual harassment."  
>"Sorry about that," KID grinned sheepishly and scratched his cheek, "I couldn't sleep, so I thought I could return your handcuffs, but I guess I went a little overboard."<br>"A little?" Shinichi asked angry, but sighed as he remembered the relief he felt when it was KID and not a man-eating monster, "but I'm happy that it was you and not a murderer. Get me out of my cuffs." The thief hummed and sat his victim free, realising that he had no reason to stay, but he didn't feel like leaving so he simply stayed there, grinning at the detective who stared back, but didn't ask him to leave.

"Was… there anything else?" Shinichi asked uncertain while ignoring a couple of bold advices from his inner voice and KID tilted his head.  
>"What do you know about Pandora?"<br>"You know that I won't talk about that,"  
>"I'm not talking about <em>where<em> it is, but I want to know what you _know_ about it,"  
>"I know more than anyone," Shinichi stated with certainty, unaware that there was one person who knew more.<br>"About its ability to grant immortality?" KID asked and Shinichi nodded.  
>"And to revive the dead," he muttered and stared up into the ceiling, "that's why no one can know where it is. How many people wouldn't, ironically, kill for that?"<br>"That is why it needs to be destroyed," the thief asserted strongly, but Shinichi didn't answer as he felt the gem's sorrow at his words.  
>"KID," he sent the white-clad teenager a glance, "Pandora is alive, and has a personality. Heshe/it has feelings and hopes. Dreams and fears. And Pandora doesn't want to die." The thief stayed silent for a while, observing the detective and pondering over what he had said.  
>"I didn't know that…" he confessed seriously, "I just thought it was magical and granted immortality when the comet passed."<br>There was a silence for a while, both of them staring at the other, neither wanting to be away from their beloved, until Shinichi frowned and poked the thief, which made him raise an eyebrow.

"What?"  
>"Nothing," the detective mumbled, "just making sure that you're not a hallucination."<br>"Ooh," KID sang happily, "you hallucinate about me a lot?"  
>"Never, but I just had to make sure. So, did you just come here to talk about Pandora and to deliver my cuffs?"<br>"Yes," the thief hummed, "I guess..."  
>"Congratulations, mission accomplished. Now what? You're going to sleep here?"<br>"No, but I was thinking of a heavy make out session followed by wild sex."  
>'<em>Is he ours? Can we keep him? Chain him to the bed?'<br>_"A-Are you serious?"  
>"No, of course not!" KID grinned and Shinichi turned his back towards him, pissed off by the fact that he'd gotten his hopes up.<br>"How disappointing," Shinichi muttered and the thief blushed as he studied the detective's back, "when you leave, go into the basement and use the secret passageway between mine and Agasa-hakase's houses. It's a locker at the far end of the house, nearest Hakase's, just tear the entire thing out from the wall. I can't have you seen sneaking out of my house without delivering a jewel or heist note. It raises too many questions as to why you were here in the first place, and if I can't give them a satisfying answer it will be a confirmation that we're a couple."  
>"You have a secret passageway?"<br>"Yes,"  
>The thief hummed and Shinichi felt how the bed shifted as the other occupant left it. Quiet steps disappeared down the hallway and Shinichi sighed as he relaxed, feeling how his self-induced hurt and loneliness constricted his heart.<p>

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><p>Kaito leaned against the wall and blushed of shame as he hid in the passageway; he'd acted like a total pervert and yet the detective hadn't been <em>that<em> angry with him, but that might just have been because he thought that it was a murderer and was relieved that he wasn't going to die that night. The thief sighed as he made his way to the neighbour and pushed open the wall. He rubbed his face, tired and deep in thought, and never noticed the little girl with a magazine beside the lamp, raising an eyebrow at him over her cup of tea as he walked through the main floor towards the window.

"Kudou and KID, sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G," she said with a small smile and the thief spun around, staring at her in surprise, "I can't believe that he actually got you to fall head over heels for him."  
>"I'm not in love with him," KID hissed quietly as to not wake the professor, "and shouldn't you be in bed? Don't you have school tomorrow?" Haibara glanced to her watch.<br>"It's only half past two, and no, I don't have school tomorrow. We're going on a camping trip with the class and we're going to ride a bus the entire day, so I plan on sleeping," the girl smirked knowingly, "how _badly_ do you want him?"  
>"I'm not in love with him! And I don't care if you are seven, eight or nineteen! Go to bed!" the thief commanded in a hushed voice and opened the window to escape from the creepy not-child.<br>"He loves you," Haibara mumbled and sipped her tea while the thief tensed, having barely heard her.  
>"What?" he asked as he turned around, but the girl only ignored him while she read an article and drank her tea.<p>

"He _loves_ you," the girl repeated a little bit louder and changed the page in the fashion magazine.  
>"Why are you telling me this?" he frowned and she returned her attention to him.<br>"I'm tired of seeing you two dance around each other. You're not as dense as he is when it comes to feelings, but you have a lot more to lose; that's why you're so careful. He's afraid that you're not interested in him and that he's misinterpreting your body language and teasing to what he wants it to be; that's why he won't make a move. Make him yours KID-san, because I'm tired of watching this kind of dance; I've learnt the steps and now it's time for a new choreography."  
>"How would you know what he feels?"<br>"Who do you think he complains to every time you do something? Ran? Who only recently forgave him? Who helps Suzuki to set him up on dates? And who doesn't even know that he's in love with a guy?" Haibara smirked as she placed the cup on the table and stared at the thief beside the window, "and I find both of your looks so funny. Get together soon so that I can tease Kudou-kun about it."  
>"How do you know what I look like?"<br>"Do you remember the time you were a Kaitou-Box? I took a look at your face just before I locked you in."  
>"Have you no honour? Removing someone's disguise when they are so vulnerable?"<br>"I won, fair and square, and who cares... It's not like I'm going to expose who you are. Oh, and shouldn't _you_ be in bed? You have school too, right?"  
>"Hah, I'll be fine," the thief grinned and jumped up into the window.<br>"The prince wants a white knight," the girl smirked and returned her attention to the magazine while the thief closed the window and disappeared into the night.

Kaito didn't sleep anything that night; he could only think about what Science-san had told him, and he hoped that it was true, but despite the fact that she had a history of being a really awful liar just to mess with people, his heart still fluttered when he thought back on her words, and it didn't help that the detective managed to trap him the very next heist.

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><p>AN: Kaitou-Box in Chap. 23 The Uninvited Guests


	48. Window of Opportunity

A/N: School's starting tomorrow, and I'm already beginning to feel evil.  
>The updates might take longer from now on, and they won't be regular.<p>

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

Uploaded: 2012-08-21  
>Revised: 2014-09-16<br>Chapter rating: T  
>Words: 2,700<p>

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><p><strong>Chap. 48<br>Window of Opportunity**

Kaito ran through the building with Shinichi in his heels. He narrowly avoided a trap set up by the detective and grinned as he realised why he hadn't been able to find him before the heist as his real identity; Shinichi had been all over the building putting up traps, probably as a revenge for the ears and tail. The thief took a left turn and stopped as he saw that he'd run into a dead-end, which was impossible. Kaito knew the layout of the building, and there should be a path heading straight forward, so he ran to the wall and pushed on it; it didn't move the slightest. A laugh behind him made him turn around and face the raven-haired detective.  
>"Quite good illusions for a detective, right?" he asked and Kaito hummed as he walked towards the detective, ready for anything that could happen.<br>"Quite good," the thief agreed and grinned as he realised that the detective must've hidden one corridor; the corridor he'd been trying to take.

Kaito felt the tension as he held his eyes locked with the piercing gaze of his detective and was about to pass him. Shinichi made a move, just like Kaito had assumed, but it wasn't the move he'd thought. The detective didn't shoot out to grab into his wrists or hands; he grabbed into his tie, and Kaito had to bite his tongue in order to keep concentrating as the tie constricted around his neck, and he enjoyed it disturbingly much, feeling how heat rushed through his body. The tie locked him to Shinichi in what could only be described as a dance where they spun around each other. Shinichi pulling the thief closer and batting away the magician's hands that tried to free him.

Kaito spun around, getting his back towards the detective, but when he released his tie from his neck he saw the detective's hand go into his inner pocket as he tried to pickpocket him. The thief grinned while he pulled it out and intertwined their fingers as he at the same time pulled up a small bomb with his other hand. He spun back, holding the detective's hand in a strong grip and shot out his free hand to change hair colour, however, Shinichi had expected the move and immediately stopped his attack by intertwining their fingers on their free hands, efficiently detonating the bomb in their fist and turning both of their hands pink.

For a moment the dance continued as Kaito tried to get away, but Shinichi held him locked in his hands so in the end they stood there staring at the other.  
>"So you really do need your hands to get away without hurting me," Shinichi smirked and Kaito suddenly knew what to do, and he went with his spontaneity. The thief spun them around and Shinichi felt his back collide with the wall. Kaito grinned as he trapped the other with his body and pinned him down.<br>"Maybe I don't want to get away," he murmured and captured the detective's lips with his own.

Shinichi's eyes widened as his senses were assaulted by the tingling sensation from Kaito's lips, and he took a harder grip into the thief's hands, craving more of him and pushed back towards him, feeling how hungry lips moved over his own. Indigo eyes stared back at him, half-lidded with dilated pupils, radiating with bliss and Shinichi relaxed his grip, only to have it all taken away as the thief ran.

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><p>Saguru had awakened from the sleeping gas and looked at his watch as he headed for the surveillance room; he'd been put to sleep for 3 minutes, 15 seconds and 54 milliseconds, and that was long enough for;<br>A. Kuroba to escape  
>B. Kuroba to get in trouble with Kudou. Or<br>C. Kudou to catch Kuroba because he was a lovestruck idiot.

"Where's KID?" he called out as he entered and found four taskforce members glued to one screen.  
>"Kudou-san cornered him, and they are fighting," a member by the name Yasuo answered, "Oh, wait! He's caught!" The blonde immediately went up to the camera and watched what seemed to be a last attempt of escaping as the thief slammed the detective up against a wall. Saguru gasped as he got his theory confirmed when the white-clad thief forced himself on Kudou, and the taskforce members all gaped.<br>'5 seconds and 2 milliseconds,' he thought as the thief broke the kiss to escape while the detective slammed his hands over his mouth and sank to the floor. Saguru ran out of the surveillance room and headed for his friend, knowing that the thief was safe and wondered if the detective would be okay.  
>"Kudou!" he called out as he reached the other, but he didn't receive an answer, and he crouched before him and moved a hand in front of his empty stare. "Hey! Kudou!" Saguru slapped his hands together and the detective blinked, but then gave him his attention, "are you okay?"<br>"Fine," Shinichi mumbled and turned red as he thought back on the memories; he could still feel the thief's lips ghosting over his own.

* * *

><p>Kaito blushed as he ran through the building; he'd done it! He'd kissed his detective without being in disguise, and he was pretty sure that Shinichi kissed back, but his memories were so fuzzy that he wasn't sure. He grinned up against a camera as he took a turn but then stopped dead in his tracks, terrified of the consequences; he hadn't deactivated the cameras this time, so everything he'd done would be on tape, and if those tapes got out Shinichi would drown in the media frenzy, and might not come back, whether he was in love or not. Kaito spun around and ran, passing the quietly talking Hakuba and then reached the surveillance room. He slammed the door shut and leaned towards it, seeing four taskforce members stare back at him in shock.<p>

"I know that you all saw that," he said quietly and smirked, "and let's get one point clear; That. Never. Happened." His eyes gleamed dangerously as he continued. "Hand over the tapes, all tapes, and never speak of this. Because if I find out that you have," Kaito gave them a predatory grin, "let's just say that I'm willing to fiddle a bit with my rules." The taskforce members paled at the statement and quickly began removing the discs. "You all know that I break into this kind of buildings, just for fun. Take a moment to imagine what I could do to one single person, if I gave them my full attention. Bank accounts; empty. Work; fired. The furniture; vanished. Car; stolen. House; sold. Your identity... erased." Kaito glared at them as he lied while Yasuo handed over the stack of CDs and he took them. "So, what did you see through the cameras?"

"You kissing Kud-," Keiichi was interrupted by an elbow in his stomach.  
>"We. Saw. Nothing," Kohaku, who had elbowed Keiichi glared at him, and the man realised his mistake.<br>"That's right," he began again, "we saw nothing."  
>"Good," Kaito cooed threateningly, "and what will it say in the report you're going to leave to Nakamori-keibu?"<br>"That the cameras weren't working," Masaaki stated and the thief grinned.  
>"Good! I'm going to have a look at those reports later, and if I find a single mistake... Ooh, let's just hope that there are no mistakes. Now run along and conspire together," Kaito pressed down the door handle and dropped a smoke bomb.<p>

The taskforce members stared at the door that they hadn't seen or heard open or close, and swallowed in fear.  
>"I just realised how dangerous Kaitou KID could be if he wanted to," Yasuo mumbled with a scared expression.<br>"I have a little girl and if he caused those kinds of problems..." everyone winced at Keiichi's statement, since they all had children, whereas Masaaki's wife was pregnant.  
>"So let's just say that the cameras weren't working," Kohaku mumbled and the others agreed with him.<p>

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><p>Kaito stood by the door to the roof, flipped his phone open and dialled a number.<br>"Hey, Hakuba," he said as the detective answered, but the phone went silent and he could only hear the background noise. "I need to know if it's you or not!"  
>"It's me," the blonde muttered, "what do you want?" Kaito cleared his throat and bit his lip.<br>"Well, tell Shinichi that KID took the tapes and that he threatened the taskforce members inside the surveillance room to lie... Um, could you lie in your report? Say that you only found him like that?"  
>"For whom?"<br>"For Shinichi. I don't care if I get a media storm over that, but he does. He doesn't have a secret identity. You are Robin to my Batman."  
>"Shut up! I'm not! Not in any freaking way!" Kaito could hear the Brit sigh, "fine..." The phone clicked as Hakuba hung up and Kaito sighed in relief before he went out to the roof.<p>

Shinichi stared at the blonde detective, sitting on the floor in front of him.  
>"KID took all of the security tapes, and apparently threatened everyone who saw the kiss to keep it quiet to save you from the media, even me. I'm going to lie in my report and no one needs to know what happened," Hakuba sighed and watched the blushing detective, still with his hands clasped over his mouth and just staring at him blankly, without having said another word, "did he break you?"<p>

* * *

><p>"I'm home!" Kaito called out as he slammed the door shut.<br>"Kaito! I'm in the kitchen. I can reheat food for you if you want!" Chikage's voice answered and Kaito was seated beside the table before she'd even noticed that he'd gotten into the kitchen.  
>"I'd love some food! I'm starving!" he grinned and she smiled at his never-ending energy.<br>"Did you have fun tonight?" she asked as she re-heated the food.  
>"Yes, very fun!" Kaito declared and blushed as he thought back on the kiss; this time he hadn't been in disguise and Shinichi hadn't been drunk. How much more obvious could a confession become without going down on one knee and saying; 'Marry me!'<p>

* * *

><p>"Kaito, is something wrong?" Chikage asked concerned when her son fidgeted in his seat and had stared at his food for a while without eating it.<br>"Mom, I-," Kaito interrupted himself, having decided to tell his mother about his feelings, "I'm in love."  
>"That's great!" she giggled, apparently not sensing the seriousness in her son's mood and then turned expectant eyes towards the young magician, "what's her name?"<br>"Him... His name," Kaito mumbled and blushed, hoping that his mother wouldn't be angry with him, but Chikage only blinked and blushed before she smirked.  
>"Aw, Kai-chan, you fell in love with a boy! Is he cute?" she squealed, but then frowned, "please tell me that it's not that blonde Aoko is dating."<br>"Hakuba? What?! Of course not!" Kaito stuttered and stared at her, relieved that she wasn't mad, "it's, um, Kudou Shinichi, the other detective." He felt himself panic as he watched his mother's smile vanish and be replaced with a serious expression as she thought about it. Kaito knew that Shinichi had been to their house and that he had somehow freaked out his mother without doing anything.  
>"Kai-chan," she began and he began to sweat from the graveness in her voice, "Kudou Shinichi... There's something you have to know that To-chan told me about him." Kaito blinked confused and nodded for her to continue while he still was mystified; something his father had told his mother a long time ago about Shinichi?<p>

"You see Kai-chan... We used to be friends with the Kudous, until one night after a heist. Your father showed up at home, covered in blood, refusing to say what had happened 'until it was confirmed'. He ran into the secret room and got something before he headed out again, without changing clothes. Later when he returned he was smiling and told me not to worry, but he stated that in order to keep Shinichi safe, without being targeted, we could never see the Kudous again. You were really sad when we said that you couldn't see your friend and you were too young to remember him, but I think that when Shinichi came here to tell me about To-chan's murder he recognised me. He said that he remembered me from somewhere..." Chikage sighed and Kaito blinked.

"Could it have been Pandora dad was talking about? Do you know whose blood it was?" Kaito asked and then frowned, remembering an intoxicated detective pulling up his shirt in order to show off a scar from a bullet wound he got when he was little and protected Kaitou KID. His mind was suddenly assaulted with memories containing the detective and Pandora.

_Pandora had a guardian, if the guardian was killed Pandora would be destroyed.  
>Shinichi placed the barrel of the gun over his heart saying; "… until you are willing to kill me you're not prepared to destroy Pandora."<em> Kaito had thought that he meant that he would rather die than give up the location of the jewel.

_Pandora could grant immortality, but it could also revive the dead; that was something a logical and science-loving detective would never say without proof. Shinichi had been shot and his father had been covered in blood. _Shinichi had died, and been revived with Pandora?

_Pandora moves, but not always. _Shinichi moves around and can stay still_. _

_The sadness in the detective's eyes when Kaito said that Pandora should be destroyed, and the pain in his voice as he told him that Pandora had feelings._

_Protect Shinichi from someone who might target him. _Because of Pandora?

_Glowing red eyes in the maze, as he ran without using a flashlight. _It hadn't been a reflection. It was Shinichi's eyes.

Shinichi was Pandora_._

"Kai-! -aito! Kaito!" Chikage shook her son who was staring straight forward with a disturbed expression.  
>"Mom! Stop shaking me!" Kaito called out and glared lightly at her, "I know now… Dad was protecting Shinichi from the organisation, but the organisation is gone now. He's no longer in danger," he fidgeted nervously, not really feeling like telling her what he thought had happened, "do you still disapprove of my feelings for him?"<p>

"I don't disapprove, you're my little Kai-chan!" she smiled joyfully, "but if he hurts you he'll know the wrath of a phantom thief!" His mother giggled lightly and Kaito felt his eye twitch; he'd never actually gotten his mother really angry, since she was always worrying about him, and he couldn't even imagine what she'd do if she got really angry.  
>"I kissed him," Kaito confessed, "and I think that he kissed me back, but I'm not certain, and then everything got caught on tape and I had to threaten a couple of my taskforce members in order to get them… The tapes! I can see if he kissed me back! Thanks for the food, mom! It was delicious as usual!" He hugged her quickly and then disappeared up the stairs and into his room.<p>

Kaito placed disc after disc into the computer and then found the one containing the right corridor. He fast forwarded it until the correct time and zoomed in, blushing as he watched himself push the detective up against the wall. He slowed down the speed and observed how Shinichi's eyes widened and then became half-lidded just before his head left the wall with about a centimetre. He relaxed his hands, allowing the thief to escape and Kaito was struck with a horrifying realisation; what if the detective thought he only did it to get away? But Shinichi had kissed back, so Kaito still had a small chance to correct it all. The magician ran into the secret room, quickly changing into his white suit, disguised himself and headed over to the detective's home to make sure that he didn't take it the wrong way, which he had to assume Shinichi had, given that he'd run away without thinking about the consequences of doing so.

* * *

><p>AN: If someone is interested in knowing where all those things were;

Toichi in bloody clothes in Chap. 9  
>Guardian of Pandora in Chap. 1938/47  
>Revive the dead in Chap. 2647  
>Shinichi visits Kaito's house in Chap. 34<br>Shinichi shows his scar in Chap. 38  
>Shinichi placing the gun towards his heart in Chap. 39<br>Red eyes in the maze in Chap. 43


	49. Kiss and Tell

A/N: Oh, and the only kisses I've ever written are those in this story, so I don't know if this is good or not... ^^'  
>Anyway, enjoy! XD<p>

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

Uploaded: 2012-08-27  
>Revised: 2014-09-16<br>Chapter rating: T  
>Words: 2,700<p>

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><p><strong>Chap. 49<br>Kiss and Tell**

Shinichi sighed as he placed the plate with the finished lemon pie in the sink, thinking that he could deal with it in the morning. He was confused, and couldn't decide if Kaito had only kissed him in order to get away or because he liked him, even though he'd seen his pupils dilate, so maybe it was both.

"You kissed me back," a quiet voice stated behind him and Shinichi tensed; he couldn't tell KID anything, not yet, he needed to befriend Kaito first, and then confess his feelings if there were even a remote chance that the thief would accept him.  
>"How long have you been there?" Shinichi questioned warily and just as silent as the thief.<br>"I just got here, but you kissed me back. I didn't believe it when I felt it, but when I watched the security tapes from the heist there was no question about it; you kissed me back. I have to confess that finding out who you had fallen in love with was a puzzle, but I never actually considered myself after you laughed the idea away when you were drunk. I never considered that you laughed because you thought that I was Tantei-han," Kaito kept his voice calm and composed, but inside his heart was racing, "do you have feelings for me?" He feared the answer; the detective could say 'yes' just to mess him, but he could say 'no' even if he loved him.

Shinichi bit his lip; he wanted to say 'yes, I love you' but Kaito might be disgusted by him, not that he really thought that, but he still feared it, and he couldn't say 'no' since his body would be screaming 'yes' and the thief would be able to hear the lie.

Kaito frowned at the back that was turned to him; the detective was quiet and didn't answer and he felt how a small flame of hope sparked into life; now he really needed to know the answer, the true answer. He swallowed nervously; anything he did could be explained by him being KID and trying to find which buttons to push in order to get people riled up. He nodded to himself; he would do it, he would take a shot at the Great Detective of the East.

Shinichi gasped and jolted his head down; arms covered in pristine white had closed around his waist, holding him in place. He could feel KID's firm body pressed up against his back; from his pelvis to his stomach and chest.  
>"Do you like me?" a seductive voice whispered beside his ear and Shinichi could feel how his cheeks heated. He refused to answer, knowing that his voice would never hold steady after that, especially if he was about to lie, instead he turned his head away from the thief so he could hide as much of the blush as he possibly could.<p>

Kaito saw interested how the detective's cheeks became flushed and how he tilted his head away, exposing his alluring neck and making it completely vulnerable to an attack. He cheered on the inside, while a strange feeling of panic, worry, joy and excitement twisted his stomach. He eyed the exposed neck and wrapped his arms harder around Shinichi's waist as he let his tongue slowly and tortuously travel over it, receiving a gasp and a squeeze on his arm as his victim grabbed into it. Using one arm Kaito slowly began to caress the detective's upper body while he took a firmer grip around his waist, enjoying the way he felt Shinichi's chest expand as he breathed. The thief buried his nose in the silky hair as his tongue reached behind the ear and took a deep breath, dulling his senses with Shinichi warm and comforting scent, and realised that he wouldn't be able to stop. He continued to tease the detective's neck with his tongue and lips, feeling the racing pulse just underneath the skin and listened to the now heavier breathing.

Shinichi rolled his eyes; he loved the thief's treatment and he wanted more, but when teeth accidently scraped against his acutely sensitive neck he tensed as his breath hitched and he couldn't stop himself. In a haze of lust the detective turned around to face Kaito and their eyes met. As he let his fingers graze the thief's chin he noted that Kaito had a beautiful crimson spreading over his face and he didn't seem to mind a kiss, not that Shinichi would've noticed unless his love had been fighting him, so he closed the small distance between them and their lips met again. The thief's arms wrapped around his neck and he pulled Kaito closer by the waist as his lips moved over the magician's, but it wasn't enough; he needed more.

Shinichi's tongue didn't beg for entrance or even ask for it; it just sneaked its way inside by separating his lips, and Kaito didn't mind. He happily opened to accept the intruder, tasting the lemon pie, and feeling a burning pleasure sparkle trough him as their tongues twirled around each other in a heated match, trying each other and listening to the other's quiet hums of delight as they pushed their bodies together. Shinichi's hands found their way underneath his clothes and explored every inch of his back making Kaito to feel like he was on fire; he needed more. Kaito never noticed when Shinichi eyed the wall behind him and pushed him towards it, he was too absorbed by desperately grasping into the detective's back and satisfying the immense yearning that was welling up from inside him by pulling himself as close as he possibly could to the other.

Shinichi moved his hands to the stomach as they reached the wall and pressed the thief against it with his entire body. Kaito broke away from the kiss and gasped as he leaned his head on the wall, causing his hat to fall over his eyes and moaned as the increased waves of heat rushed through him by every touch from the detective. Kaito panted as his love contently massaged his chest with exploring hands and his neck with hungry lips. Shinichi couldn't even hold a coherent thought in his head as the thief continued to moan lowly and he started to remove the annoying tie that restricted the area around the exposed neck, feeling that it still wasn't enough.

"Shinichi," Kaito whimpered wantonly as he felt the bulge in the detective's pants pres up against his own hardness, causing a roaring fire of pleasure to rush though him. "More," he gasped as he felt Shinichi hum and nibble on his earlobe. He was holding the detective hard, but released him slightly so that his hands could travel downwards, finding their way to the detective's rear and pulled his pelvis against his own, causing the entire world to vanish into pleasure as they both moaned.  
>"KID," Shinichi groaned and doubled his fierceness as he had access to the thief's shoulder, determined to leave a mark on his love, but he could feel that something was wrong; the thief had tensed and stopped breathing.<p>

Kaito had frozen at the name and suddenly everything felt wrong. Every touch and every kiss was wrong. It made sense; the detective was in love with the brilliant mastermind Kaitou KID, not the lonely, jealous and not really brilliant Kuroba Kaito, _prankster_ of Ekoda High. The both parties were very similar, but not exactly the same. He had known this, yet he had jumped at the idea of getting to hold the detective even for only one time. He needed to think everything through so he would know how to proceed in making the detective completely his, so that he could let the detective know that Kaitou KID was childish, jealous, blunt and extremely possessive. It was a good thing that Shinichi had kissed him; it showed that he was willing to look beyond the simple detective-thief relation and consider an actual relationship, but he needed to be away from temptation in order to think.

"I'm sorry," the whispered words made Shinichi's heart stop while he froze from inside out and closed his eyes as he pulled away in order to lean on the wall instead of the thief. He couldn't believe what he heard, it could only mean one thing; the thief had played him, toyed with his feelings and enjoyed the game, but realised that he shouldn't have. Had he really been that bad at figuring out what kind of person Kaito was? Love certainly was blind.

"You don't even know me," Kaito whispered and made Shinichi relax and smiled relived; that was it? That was what was wrong?  
>"Then go on a date with me," the detective forced out thought his nervousness, knowing that the thief would run, but when he looked up, and where he expected to see person, there was only a wall. He glanced around; Kaito was gone and he was completely alone. The only trace of the thief was a slightly moved curtain showing that he went out through the window. Shinichi sighed as he placed his back against the wall and sank down to the floor. He eyed the red tie that had been forgotten and picked it up with a smile.<p>

'That could've gone better,' Shinichi sighed and caressed the silky material.  
>'<em>Yea, he ran away... Maybe you're that bad of a kisser?'<em> Pandora tried to joke it away, sensing the heaviness of his host's mood.  
>'He'll be back,' Shinichi thought hopefully and held the tie to his naked chest, wondering when the thief had opened his shirt.<br>'_Yes, he will!'_ Pandora grinned encouraging and chuckled, '_he did seem to enjoy the kiss, at least for a while, going by the tent in his pants. Let's ask him out on a date the next heist! If you got the guts to do it.'  
><em>'Yea, and then when the time is right I'll tell him about you,' Shinichi placed a loving kiss on the tie and Pandora smirked amused at his antics, but didn't let him know how much he feared the fact that he would be exposed to a thief that wanted nothing more than to destroy him.

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><p>Shinichi was in a daze the next day, where happiness and pain were having a wrestling match, and he sat by his bench simply staring out the window with an irritated look, ignoring when the teacher asked him a question, or only called out, "I don't know," in a fractious voice without caring what the question actually was, only wishing that he would be left alone. He'd fallen asleep on the floor in the kitchen and been in a really bad mood when Haibara awakened him when she came by to borrow some eggs for the breakfast, since Agasa dropped theirs on the floor.<p>

"Shinichi," someone asked carefully and he recognised Ran's voice, "what's wrong?" Shinichi looked around the classroom, seeing that it was empty before giving her an empty look. "You haven't paid attention in class at all," she continued and he got up, pondering if he should ask her about advice, since he didn't know what to do.  
>"Sorry," he mumbled, feeling how irritation still pulsed though his veins, and took his bag, "I had a really strange evening." Ran frowned as they walked out of the room and headed towards the dining hall. "And I would appreciate some help in solving it."<p>

* * *

><p>"What do you do when the person you like kisses you and then says 'sorry' and runs away?" Shinichi asked slowly as he opened his bento that he'd made in Rimiko's cooking class, and stared at it; it looked poisonous even though it was delicious. He'd decided that there was something messed up in his head since the food me made tasted better and better while it looked more and more disgusting; it was like a strange scale, where the more delicious it looked the worse it became. Ran stared at him in shock as Sonoko got to the table and eyed his food.<p>

"Is this a suicide attempt?" she asked when he took a bite and joined them with her own bento.  
>"Just because it looks disgusting doesn't mean that it is, just take a look at you; you look innocent and nice, but that's the opposite of what you really are," Shinichi said in a complaisant voice and flashed her a fake smile before he got back to eating with the same annoyed expression he'd been having the entire day.<br>"Ooh, Shinichi-kun, I can hear that you are having your period, you finally became a woman. I'm so happy for you," Sonoko sent him a hard glare, but he didn't care as he was waiting for Ran to answer.  
>"So last night..." Ran began and giggled, "you were kissed?"<br>"Eeh!?" Sonoko stared at him, "he was kissed? At the heist?"  
>"<em>After<em> the heist," Shinichi began the lie and glared at them both, "I met up with someone I like. They kissed me, said 'sorry' and ran away. I asked if we could go on a date, but they were running away and I doubt they heard me. What do I do?"

"Call her!" Sonoko grinned and Shinichi shook his head.  
>"I don't have the number,"<br>"Go to her house," she suggested.  
>"I don't know the address,"<br>"Well, you do know her name?" Sonoko asked angrily and Shinichi blushed.  
>"Only the first name," he mumbled excusing and blushed.<br>"What is wrong with you?! Great detective my ass! Have you no sense when it comes to things like this?" the blonde girl slammed her fist into the table and Shinichi twitched while Ran only shook her head.  
>"You really are hopeless," his childhood friend giggled, "if she likes you, she'll get in contact."<br>"Yea, I hope you're right," he muttered with a sigh and discovered that his bento was empty. Shinichi scowled for a moment while he considered asking who stole his food, since he hadn't noticed that he'd eaten it all in a haste.

A large paper ball struck him hard in the head and landed on the table beside him with a clatter as he glared around the dining hall, wondering who wanted their ass kicked, but he saw no one. Shinichi was about to rip it to pieces he felt that there was something heavy inside it, and he curiously opened it, revealing the emerald KID had stolen the night before. The detective picked it up and frowned; KID didn't have to throw it in his head.

"Is that the emerald my KID-sama stole?" Sonoko squealed as he examined it.  
>"Yes, and I can't believe that he threw it in my head," Shinichi muttered and glanced town to the paper in with it was wrapped in.<p>

"_I accept.  
>This Saturday at 12.00 I'll be in Beika Park.<br>I'll find you, and you'll have me until 24.00, that's when I turn back into a pumpkin.  
>Unless you want to finish it earlier.<br>~Love."_

Shinichi began to laugh at the small heart with a hat as he placed the note in his pocket, relieved that the thief had heard him, and amused by the fact that Kaito had compared himself to a pumpkin, while the analogy was completely lost on him. Ran and Sonoko sent him a strange glance while a thief in disguise looked up from his bento and smiled warmly, loving Shinichi's reaction to the note.  
>"What's so funny?" Sonoko asked annoyed.<br>"Nothing, I just realised that you're both right. If they like me we can solve whatever the problem is," the detective smiled and was much happier for about a few minutes, until he realised that he didn't know what the thief expected on a date.

Shinichi wanted it to be special, something not many people did, something romantic, something he'd enjoy, and something magical. It took Shinichi four days to come up with something that he considered good, and after a single phone call he'd made sure that they were welcome and that they were going to have a great date. He baked one of his chocolate cakes and considered placing a note on top of it telling KID to stay away from it, but decided not to.


	50. From Winter To Summer in a Heartbeat

A/N: DAMN! I don't get time to write at all *pout* and I'm already behind in school... What am I doing wrong?  
>It's very hard to write anything good when all I get is small times (about 30 minutes) to write on...<p>

Anyway, this chapter is my definition of something romantic (and I usually don't read/watch romantic books/movies) so I just hope that you'll like it :)

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

Uploaded: 2012-09-08  
>Revised: 2014-09-16<br>Chapter rating: T  
>Words: 2,800<p>

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><p><strong>Chap. 50<br>From Winter To Summer in a Heartbeat**

Shinichi stood in Beika Park, warmly dressed in his winter jacket while the snow swirled around him. It was a warm day, compared to the bitter cold that had been embracing the last couple of days and much people were out despite of the calm snowstorm and quiet breeze. The detective was anxious, even more nervous than he'd been when he was trying to confess to Ran and this time it was just a date where the thief knew that he loved him.

"Hi, Shinichi," someone said and he turned around facing an unknown person with a white jacket and wild dark hair.  
>"I just have to guess that that's you," Shinichi stated quietly and the thief flashed him a grin.<br>"Of course my lovely Meitantei-san,"  
>"So what should I call you?"<br>"How about Kaito?" the thief grinned and Shinichi smirked, knowing that Kaito was saying his real name, but hoping that he was going to misinterpret it as 'Kaitou'.

"Well, Kaito," Shinichi smiled nervously and held out his hand, "shall we?" The thief smiled, not his cocky or mocking smirk, but a warm and loving one, and took Shinichi's hand, happily walking hand in hand with his love and letting Shinichi take him wherever he'd decided to go.

First the detective brought them to a gaming hall where they both enjoyed the puzzle games and shooting games, however, Shinichi lost horribly in everything else, but that didn't diminish his joy of actually spending time with the thief outside off the heists, and laughing at his crazy behaviour on the dance machine. After that, he brought Kaito to a small restaurant to enjoy a late lunch, a restaurant that Shinichi knew served ice-cream, even in the middle of the winter. Happily he watched the thief eat and enjoy the chocolate ice-cream after their food while he drank a cup of coffee.

They took a walk in the snow, where Shinichi instigated a snowball war. The game lasted for an hour before Shinichi gave up, and then they lay in the snow beside each other for a while small talking about news and unspecified school subjects, until the detective pulled him up and continued on the walk, unaware that the thief was watching him, wondering if Shinichi died a long time ago and the only one he saw and spoke to was Pandora, or if Shinichi was simply immortal.

The detective brought him to a movie, which Kaito found hilarious, but it was obvious that Shinichi didn't actually understand it even if he sometimes smirked amused. After they'd eaten dinner, Shinichi stopped him from ordering desert, stating that he had something special planned, and Kaito couldn't help but to think of a particular detective covered in melted chocolate even though he knew that Shinichi would never do that, but a certain magician might convince him otherwise, and if he wasn't convinced, then there were those helpful restraints on his bed.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Kaito, would you mind wearing a scarf over your eyes?" Shinichi asked quietly while they waited for the taxi and leaned in closer to him, "but given who you are, you're allowed to peak if you feel uncomfortable, to make sure that I'm not tricking you." Kaito nodded as the car arrived and they got in. Shinichi handed a note to the driver, who read it and drove out on the road while the detective tied his scarf around Kaito's head.<p>

"I'm going to show you a bit of magic now, my love," Shinichi murmured into his ear and the thief blushed, wanting nothing else but to jump him right then and there, not caring if the driver got mad. The detective intertwined their fingers, stroking Kaito's hand with his thumb and the thief smiled, feeling both calm and relaxed, but after what must have been an hour the taxi finally slowed down and almost came to a stop. He peeked in curiosity, seeing that they were standing in front of two large gates, which were slowly opening, revealing a large, well-trimmed, snow-covered garden with ice sculptures in front of an even larger mansion. Kaito sent the detective a glance, feeling him squeeze his hand lightly and smile while the thief pulled down the scarf so that it covered both of his eyes again and grinned mischievously at him.  
>"You're too cute," Shinichi mumbled in his ear and he blushed happily as the car speeded up a little, driving through the garden and stopping by the mansion.<p>

"Kudou! It's great to see you again!" a man said happily after they'd gotten out from the taxi and paid.  
>"Seiwa, you seem well," Shinichi greeted and took Kaito's hand, pulling him along as he walked up the stairs, "thank you for having us."<br>"Oh, no biggie!" the man laughed while they entered, "and just coming here won't make me any less in your dept." Kaito frowned, feeling left out and wondered if he should take off the scarf.  
>"Kai, you can take off your jacket, but keep the scarf," Shinichi's voice sounded and Kaito did as he was told.<br>"I can't believe that you're actually dating a guy," Shinichi sent Seiwa a glare at his comment, "I'm sorry, I'll let you two be." Steps were heard as the man left and Kaito felt how Shinichi gave him slippers.

"We're actually in someone else's house, and they just left us?" the thief asked with a frown and let Shinichi pull him along as they walked to wherever they were going.  
>"Yes, actually we are," Shinichi blushed a little.<br>"This date just got weird,"  
>"Oh, shut up," Shinichi grinned and opened a door and pulled the magician inside, "I'm going to show you something beautiful that not many people gets to see."<br>"Who was that Seiwa-guy?"  
>"He's just someone I saved from being wrongfully convicted with the murder of his wife," Shinichi pulled him along for a while. A weak whiff of flowers and summer filled his nose and Kaito frowned, hearing the gentle sound of calmly flowing water.<p>

"Kaito, be careful now, I don't want you to fall." The thief snorted amused and felt how Shinichi took a step down, into what he assumed was a boat given that he could hear the small splashing of water.  
>"Are there any f-fish?" Kaito asked as he hesitated.<br>"Fish? No, there aren't," Shinichi answered, already knowing of the thief's phobia, and the thief relaxed slightly as he got into the small boat and sat down while holding into the edges of it. A door opened and closed, and another voice was heard.

"Master Seiwa informed that you might want this."  
>"Thank you, Ito," Shinichi said and the butler left. Kaito felt how the boat shifted a bit when the detective got in behind him and placed something on the floor beside him. Slowly the boat started to move and Kaito couldn't help but to smile.<p>

Shinichi looked back, seeing that the door disappeared behind them, and smiled.  
>"In the middle of the winter I can give you summer, now you can take it off," he smiled and Kaito immediately pulled off the blindfold and gasped at the sight that met him.<p>

He was sitting in a gondola, slowly floating through a passage with large, completely green hedges on both sides, with large, lush tree crowns over their heads. Kaito bent over the edge of the boat, watching the clear water shimmer while the fine sand that the bottom consisted of had large, white and seemingly smooth rocks inside it. Even though he knew that it was around ten in the evening he could still see bright sunlight above the trees and feel it warm him as it passed through the foliage. Kaito smiled back at Shinichi who stood with the oar in his hands and grinned at him.

"See, magic," the detective smirked and nodded forward, "and just beyond the riverbend." Kaito turned forward in curiosity as one hedge ended and he gasped as a small lake was revealed. An island lay in the water, where a large oak grew, surrounded by well-cared for bushes and flowerbeds, and it could be somewhere in the middle of the summer for all Kaito knew. The sky was clear and blue, showing him the sun he'd felt before and he listened to the birds' singing. Shinichi rowed them around the island in a quiet pace and let the magician take in the sights before he steered them to a small, wooden pier.

* * *

><p>"Ooh, it's real," Shinichi smirked and tied the gondola to the small bridge while Kaito examined the grass, "everything except a few trees, the sky and sun."<br>"Wow... This is amazing," he mumbled and watched how his love took up a box from the boat.  
>"That's what you get when you combine an obsessive personality with large amounts of money. Shall we?" the detective smirked and Kaito followed him to a blanket underneath the oak where he placed the box in the middle. The thief smirked as Shinichi revealed a chocolate cake.<br>"I made this for you. I noticed that this 'Chocolate Cake of Death', as Haibara calls it, disappeared much quicker than the other cakes."  
>"Ooh, yes," Kaito cooed and grinned at the cake when his date cut a piece and placed it on a plate that he happily accepted, "that one is divine." Shinichi laughed at his comment and served himself a piece.<p>

"Um, Shinichi," the thief began a bit hesitantly and the teenager looked up, "about Pandora-." Kaito interrupted himself and immediately regretted his decision to ask about the gem as the smile vanished from the detective's lips while his eyes showed a panicked expression.  
>"Kaito," he mumbled with a sigh, "I will tell you about that, but not now, not yet, not when I still fear that Pandora is the only reason that you're doing this." The thief noticeably twitched and his eyes widened at the statement, but before he could retort the detective continued. "It's the same reason that you're wearing a mask." Kaito closed his mouth, wondering if he should tell Shinichi that he already knew everything.<br>"How did you know?" he mumbled instead, and the detective smiled.  
>"I felt it when I placed the scarf over your eyes."<p>

Kaito felt the heavy tension between them and regretted that he'd ever brought it up; the date had gone perfect. He'd acted like himself without a poker face and the detective had smiled and had fun, so why had he needed to go and ruin it by bringing up something that obviously pained his love? And who wouldn't be nervous about revealing something like that?

"I'm sorry," the thief said and smiled at the raven-haired detective, who looked up with a curious expression, "you don't have to tell me anything. Someday, neither of us will have secrets, and until then, we'll be together anyway." Much to Kaito's delight Shinichi blushed and smiled.  
>"I couldn't agree more," the detective placed his plate inside the box beside the cake and lay down with his hands behind his head, letting the warm, faux sunlight bathe him, "we'll always be together." Kaito smirked as he got up and sneaked closer while watching his love smile with his eyes closed.<p>

Shinichi stared at him in shock when he placed his head on the detective's chest, but then wrapped an arm around him and they stayed like that for a while, forgetting the somewhat inclement weather outside as they enjoyed a peaceful evening of summer.

* * *

><p>The dates got more frequent and they often met up to just go for a small walk or a movie, but that didn't stop the more insane dates the thief enjoyed setting up on weekends, by breaking them into an empty building, far away from other people so that they could avoid a murder, however, that didn't help once and they had to interrupt their date so that Kaito could hide while Shinichi called Megure and solved it.<p>

Kaito didn't even hold a heist for a couple of weeks as he was too busy with spending all of his time with the detective, who didn't seem to mind that he showed up unannounced in his house. The four taskforce members thought that it was because the kiss, while the rest of the taskforce thought that he was planning something big.

Hakuba had been observing Shinichi, and made sure that he was mentally okay and that he didn't want to kill the thief for the stunt he'd pulled. The Brit had even tried to corner Kaito multiple times in order to beg him to stay away from the detective, but even if the thief listened a bit to what he said he still disappeared out a window with the words; "Don't worry." which was precisely the opposite of reassuring. Kaito didn't ask about Pandora again, and he didn't reveal that he, _kind of_, knew what had happened, because he wanted the detective to say it to him, while Shinichi for the same reason didn't tell the thief that he knew his real identity.

Shinichi could from time to time feel Pandora's worry over the fact that he would be revealed, and wasn't very happy when his host asked if he wanted to talk with the thief. Immediately replying with;  
>"What would I tell him? Hi, I'm Pandora. I'm the reason that your father is dead. I'm the reason that Shinichi died and got stuck with me in his head. I'm the reason people dies around him too, nice to meet you!" And after that, Pandora had been sulking for a couple of days while hiding underneath the bed with a quilt and a pillow, refusing to talk to Shinichi even though the detective sneaked underneath the bed uninvited to try to comfort the jewel, but he didn't ask if Pandora wanted to talk with Kaito a second time. However, if Pandora hadn't lost his memories he'd know that he'd eventually be forced to speak with Kaito, sooner than he'd thought. It was the same reason that Toichi had awakened him a little over nine years ago, a special ability that ran through their bloodline, and it all started with an innocent request from the thief.<p>

* * *

><p>More often than not they couldn't keep their hands to themselves and ended up as animals, tearing at each other's clothes, however, neither was willing to go further than touches, even though they in one of those animalistic moments sneaked their hands into the other's boxers in order to satisfy the other, quickly ending up staring embarrassed into each other's eyes once they could think again. This time they ended up in Shinichi's bed, simply kissing, and it was quickly getting late since time had an amazing ability to speed up whenever they were together.<p>

"Shinichi," Kaito mumbled, only covering his face with the monocle and the complete darkness in the room, "could I stay for tonight?" An innocent question and a warm smile for an answer as the detective hugged the thief.  
>"Yes, of course," Shinichi whispered happily.<p>

When they stopped talking, late at night, the raven-haired detective fell asleep and Kaito watched him sleep for a while, observing the peaceful face of his love, who accepted him despite him being a criminal. Pandora on the other hand watched the magician with the little noise Shinichi made as he breathed.  
>"Sleep tight, love," Kaito whispered and placed a gentle kiss on Shinichi's forehead before he lay down to sleep, sneaking and arm around the detective and laid his head over the heart, hearing its soft beating. Pandora stayed up for a while before he snuck into Shinichi's bed in his own world, where his host's conscious slept, deciding that sleeping was more fun that just sitting there alone.<p>

Kaito wasn't really sleeping; he was conscious even though he could feel his body sleep, and that was strange. Never before had he experienced something like that, and he lay there for a long while, until he decided to get up and have a drink of water, but when he opened his eyes it wasn't the dark room he saw. Kaito looked around with a frown, deciding that he was dreaming; he was standing on a familiar street in the city, looking up on the Tokyo Tower. However, everything was painted in red, even the strangely shaped rain that was falling through the air in completely straight lines and then through him. Kaito looked down on himself, realising that he was dressed in his Kaitou KID outfit and that he was the only thing that wasn't red, he was white. Dream-worlds were always fun, and always had something to offer, and he could play around as much as he wanted, so with a grin he decided to explore.


	51. Painted in Red

A/N: I think that the chapter's weirdness comes from the fact that it's actually composed of three different chapters, disassembled and then put together in the best formation... ^^''  
>I didn't manage to make it good the first time XD<p>

But... I can finally update! Wohoo!

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

Uploaded: 2012-09-22  
>Revised: 2014-09-16<br>Chapter rating: T  
>Words: 3,900<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Chap. 51<br>Painted in Red**

Kaito smiled as he threw himself out from the tower and unfolded his glider, heading for Ekoda to explore his own house. The white wing brought him further than what it should've in reality and allowed him to land outside.

His home somehow looked outdated, like it was months ago. Two empty cups were left on the table in the living room and he could see an opened book on the bureau, hastily placed there to get it out of the way. Kaito realised that it was his English textbook and he started at the page, seeing a place that he was reading months ago. Baffled, he shook his head and went over to the kitchen; it was mostly obscured in darkness, until he entered it and white lines filled in where red ones were missing.

Pandora shifted uncomfortable in his sleep, but didn't awaken.

The thief smirked and ran up the stairs, but when he opened the door to his room it was filled with complete darkness, until the same kind of white lines filled it up, just like he remembered it. He opened the painting and watched the lines expand.

Pandora jolted awake and stared up into the red ceiling, feeling that something was wrong, terribly wrong. He frowned and looked around, wondering what had disturbed him and immediately used the echolocation to find out that the room in the real house only held two people, sleeping, tightly wrapped together. The host's arms constricted around him and Pandora scowled in annoyance while he forced his way out from the confinement. He quickly made his way to the library, watching floating columns, graphs and diagrams appear by just by a simple thought; however, he had no idea what most of the statistics showed, but one he knew. Pandora noted that his power had increased slightly, too little to count, but still worthy of a notation.

The gem picked up the newspaper from the desk as he sat down in the chair, fearing from where the increase in power could've come. He knew that Shinichi created energy for him from the food he ate, without his host even knowing about it. Sometimes the detective would give it all away in a small burst of energy in the middle of the night after his body had decided that it was unnecessary, but now they weren't alone. There was another power source in the room, and Pandora feared that he'd accidently stolen energy from Kaito, directly painting up the worst-case-scenario in his mind and seeing Shinichi wake up to discover a dead Kaito beside himself. Pandora shivered and forced the thought away. He threw the newspaper back to the desk, feeling too restless to read it again, knowing that there was nothing new in it, and realised that it would be a great idea to put in a radio in their bedroom so that he had something to do when Shinichi was sleeping. The gem started pacing from one end of the library to the other, wondering why he felt so strange.

Kaito was annoyed; he hadn't found anyone, and Aoko's house didn't even exist, even entire streets were missing. It made him uneasy to walk through the dead roads in the red rain and he considered walking inside a house just to get away from it, even though it didn't make him wet. After only a short walk he found himself outside the Kudou Mansion, but he estimated that the missing streets and blocks could have something to do with that.

Pandora never stopped pacing in the library, wondering if he should wake his host to tell him about the power-increase, and didn't notice the white thief watching him with a grin as he sneaked closer.

"Shinichi!" a voice called out and Pandora spun around in shock as something slammed into him and then pinned him to the floor.  
>"<em>What the hell?!"<em> the gem called out and gaped at the ridiculously happy thief that was straddling him, knowing that he hadn't conjured him up, which only left one other choice, "_how the hell did yo-?"_ Pandora's call was cut off by lips pressing against his own and he blinked confused as a tongue sneaked inside and he blushed as he relaxed, losing all his will to fight.

"Now that's the look I like to see on you," Kaito smirked down at the dazed person, and stole another kiss, but it was cut short as Pandora turned his head away.  
>"As much as I'd like to abuse your misunderstanding a bit more," he sighed frustrated and glanced back to the thief, immediately becoming nervous, "I'm not who you think I am."<br>"Ooh, I like that game," a voice purred contently in his ear and Pandora felt how he blushed even deeper, "were you _naughty_? How _badly_ do I need to _punish_ you?" For a second the suggestiveness made the jewel consider not telling his host that his boyfriend's mind had somehow made its way into his world and just let the thief punish him in any way he saw fit, but logic decided that it would be a bad idea.

"Okay," Pandora muttered with a sigh, "you're going to regret that and then hate me, so will you please get off me?"  
>"I don't wanna!" the thief pouted and the gem rolled them over, "you're mine." Pandora was pulled into a fiercely possessive kiss and he lost his cool.<br>"No," he squeaked as he pushed away, falling to his back from the force and feeling that he had done something wrong. He breathed heavily as he sat up and glared at the obviously frustrated magician that stared back in confusion, not understanding why his dream-Shinichi was unwilling to sleep with him.

"Shinichi, is something wrong?" Kaito asked concerned and grabbed into the gem's arm while Pandora shook his head.  
>"No," the gem sighed, "I'm not Shinichi... I'm, well," he cleared his throat, "I'm Pandora." The gem grinned a bit awkwardly.<br>"Pandora?" Kaito asked, but then gaped and quickly recovered from the shock, "you're Pandora! Tell me; is Shinichi immortal?" The gem raised his eyebrows.  
>"No, he's not."<br>"So you decided to talk to me?" Kaito smiled and Pandora narrowed his eyes, knowing that revealing himself was one of the last points on his priority list, but the thief only continued, "why do you look like Shinichi?"  
>"Oh, long story short; I am him, basically. You see, I lost my memories when I revived Shinichi after his death and then we grew up together, so I have his memories. I'm still me, but I'm a lot like him too."<br>"Okay..." Kaito mumbled and stared at the red shape in front of himself, feeling how an uncomfortable silence spread out around them.

"How did you get here?" Pandora began after a while of hard observation of the thief, deciding that Kaito might not be angry with him for all the pain he'd caused, "I only know that Shinichi can get in here, but that's because I'm actually inside him, so how did you get here?"  
>"I fell asleep," Kaito shrugged.<br>"You just fell asleep?"  
>"Yes, and sorry about jumping you before, I really thought that you were Shinichi."<br>"Oh," the gem smirked and saw that he got an opportunity, "Shinichi and I are connected; I feel what he feels." Pandora bent forward and cupped the thief's chin. "If he's in love, so am I," he murmured and smiled, "so jump me anytime."

"Pandora!" a voice called out, making the gem twitch and Shinichi glared at them both from the doorway, "what did I tell you about messing with my dreams! Stop conjuring up Kaito when I'm asleep!" The detective sighed and walked into the library while both of the other occupants stared at him. "I see that you've begun to make him white," he remarked and walked passed, heading for the settee, "if you want to do perverted things, don't use my dreams. Do it when I'm technically awake, like now, and when I can't see you."  
>"Perverted things?" Kaito asked the jewel and watched him blush while he smiled a bit awkwardly.<br>"Yea, well," he cleared his throat, "just forget that you ever heard that."  
>"Pandora? Are you losing it completely?" Shinichi asked concerned and sat down.<br>"What did I do now?" the gem whined.  
>"You're talking to yourself."<br>"Says the detective with a voice in his head," Pandora retorted with a smirk, "and I'm not talking to myself."  
>"Of course you're not, Pan-chan."<br>"Yea," Pandora began slowly and made a gesture to Kaito, "we have a problem." The detective raised an eyebrow and lay down on the settee, waiting for the gem to continue, "I didn't conjure him up." Shinichi stared at them blankly for a while, until they both could see how realisation cleared his eyes. "Yes, Kaito's in here, and no, we're not stealing energy from him. I did receive energy earlier, but that was such a small amount that it's barely worth mentioning, but I don't know if I got it from you or from him..."

"Kaito?" the detective asked and the thief waved, "can you get back to your own body?"  
>"Don't know. Probably, since you can get in and out of here, however, was that because of the fact that Pandora is <em>inside<em> you?"  
>"How about you try to get back to your own body first, and when you wake up you can ask Pandora anything?"<br>"Why can't I talk with you two now? When we can talk face to face?"  
>"Because," Shinichi began, but stopped himself for a moment to think, "your body is technically asleep, while your mind is awake, so your brain isn't allowed any rest. I can't stay awake in here the entire night, not without waking up and feeling like death himself. Pandora can't take our body for a spin either, because we both will be exhausted, but that's not what's bothering me. How hard will it be for you to get back? If it's easy to go both ways you can come back, but if it's hard I can just let Pandora take control when we're awake so that you can talk."<br>"Yea, that could be a problem..."  
>"You have to try to get back to your own body," Pandora mumbled while Shinichi fell back into a deep sleep, unable to stay awake.<br>"Do you know how Shinichi gets in and out?"  
>"Well, he just opens his eyes and as I said; I'm inside him, actually behind his heart. I have harmless connections to it and dangerous connections to his spine."<br>"Dangerous?"

"Yes, in order to exchange energy between us I'm connected to his nervous system, and that would be dangerous to remove, but as long as I'm not torn out of this body he'll live, and I don't have enough energy to survive on my own. And thereof we got the story about the death of the guardian."  
>"Do you grant immortality?" Kaito continued to ask, but Pandora only leaned his chin on his palm and smiled at him.<br>"Once you get out we'll speak more," the jewel got up and walked over to Shinichi, seating himself beside him on the settee and hiding the fact that he was feeling conflicted by petting his host, hoping that the thief would accept him, but the way Kaito had been talking to him made him think that the thief might be okay with the fact that he was there with Shinichi.

Kaito watched the red shape and realised that Shinichi was actually a bit more purple-ish compared to Pandora, who was purely red, but soon he relaxed and wondered what he was going to do, so he simply slowed his breathing and opened his eyes, seeing the same red world around him. Confused, he continued to try to get out and the longer it took the more nervous he became and in the end he sighed and got up, wondering if it would be easier if he was standing.

"Shinichi, you're awake!" Kaito commented while being fixated by a serious gaze.  
>"Sorry that I fell asleep, but you two woke me up in the middle of a deep cycle, and I couldn't stay awake for much longer," Shinichi sighed, "are you really okay with all this?"<br>"Yea, I kind of knew that something was up," Kaito nodded and closed his eyes while standing, "I figured that you had died and Pandora had revived you, but I didn't know if you were immortal, or dead so that the only one I was talking to was Pandora."  
>"Oh," Shinichi said and watched how the magician started to pace.<p>

"I can't do it," Kaito muttered and turned to them, "I'm not giving up, but... It was harder than I thought, not that I know what I'm doing."  
>"Oi, Pandora," Shinichi turned to the gem that was still staring into the floor, "can you wake me so that I can wake Kaito." Pandora sent Shinichi a glance and nodded as he placed his fingertips together.<p>

Shinichi jolted up from the bed, feeling sickly tired and immediately located the thief on the other side of the bed and shook him violently.  
>"Kaito!" he called out when the thief didn't wake.<p>

"_That's so weird! I can hear him!"_ Kaito stated out inside his head, _"echo! Echo!"  
><em>'_Be quiet! You stupid thief!'_ Pandora called out and frowned.  
>"<em>I'm not stupid!"<em>  
>'<em>Don't you realise that we're having huge troubles if you can't wake up?'<br>_"_I know!"  
><em>'_How's your body going to wake up if you are in here? Damn it! Get out!'  
>"Oi! That hurt!"<br>_'_Wake up, you stupid thief!'_

Shinichi sighed as he listened to the banter between the two consciousnesses that now inhabited his head and that sounded more like a one-sided fight that Pandora was winning.  
>"Both of you; be quiet!" Shinichi called out and continued as soon as the both voices became silent, "I wonder if I could get a pill for this." The detective sighed and closed his eyes as he lay down beside Kaito, instantly reappearing in the library. "Pandora, what do we do?"<p>

"I guess," the gem sighed, "that it's all up to Kaito." The thief stared at Pandora and ruffled his hair.  
>"I have no idea what to do," he muttered with a sigh and sent a glance to Shinichi, who seemed unbelievably calm.<p>

"We're not drawing energy from him, are we?" the detective asked, already feeling like he knew the answer, and Pandora shook his head, "so we technically have a timeframe of three days, until he becomes dehydrated." Shinichi turned to the thief with a gentle smile, "but I'm only going to give you one, then I'm taking you to the hospital so that they can take care of your body."

* * *

><p>Pandora sat on the settee beside Shinichi, both watching the thief sitting on the floor with his legs crossed, eyes closed and trying to breathe calmly while trying to figure out how to get back to his own body. Shinichi drifted in and out of his deeper sleep for the hour that Kaito was able to focus while Pandora only observed, sitting still as a statue.<p>

"Damn it," Kaito muttered and then joined the gem on the couch. They both stared at each other, only breaking eye-contact when Kaito shifted his gaze to the sleeping detective. He could see that Pandora was tense and worried; the jewel had the same kind of tells that Shinichi had.  
>"So, Pandora," he began and got a raised eyebrow as an answer, "you conjure me up?" The red colour on Pandora's cheeks got more vibrant and the gem smirked.<br>"Maybe," Pandora murmured and leaned closer, "I like you just as much as Shinichi does, and he loves you very deeply." Kaito smirked, seeing the glimmer of hope in the gem's eyes.  
>"Tell me Pandora," he whispered and traced the Shinichi-copy's jaw, "are you magical?"<br>"What is magic? Magic is merely things you can't yet explain," Pandora began while his eyes grew dark, reacting just like the detective always did whenever Kaito made a small advance on him, "in ancient times the sun was magic since they didn't understand planetary movements, and a pistol would be magical to them because they wouldn't understand the mechanics behind it, so the question is; am I magical as in supernatural, or merely unexplained?" The gem kept talking while the magician caressed his cheek. "Are you going to kiss me?" he questioned while placing a hand over Kaito's own, keeping it to his cheek.  
>"Do you want me to?" the thief smiled, knowing what the gem would most likely say.<br>"Oh, yes, do whatever you want with me," Pandora begged and shifted his head so that he could place a kiss on his hand, "I'd love to take that punishment now."

"I'm sorry, Pandora," Kaito whispered quietly, "but that would feel wrong, like I'm cheating on Shinichi."  
>"I-, I knew that," Pandora answered with an apologetic smile, unaware that the detective was watching them while feeling the gem's distress, and he understood. Shinichi could imagine how it would feel if their roles had been reversed, and he could imagine how painful the thief's statement had been. "I'm sorry that I asked something that stupid-," Pandora was interrupted as Shinichi kicked him, watching how the red person's lips collided with the white one's, but only a moment later Pandora landed on the floor after he jumped away.<p>

"Shinichi!" the gem squeaked and then blushed as he touched his lips, "you... Kicked me?"  
>"Yes, and you're acting stupid," Shinichi sat up and turned to the thief, "sorry about that, but he would've been sulking for weeks, and technically you're not exactly cheating on me with Pandora, since we're one and the same. The only difference is that we're currently separated, yet not. I'm not going to force you to kiss Pandora, except that time. I understand how you must feel about this, but please don't reject him, because every time you reject Pandora, you make me feel as if you rejected me. And Pandora," Shinichi turned to the blushing gem, "don't ask Kaito for anything like that, you understand what he feels, and don't force yourself on him before he's had time to adjust to everything; he just found out that you live inside me. Relax, take a deep breath, and calm down."<p>

"You said 'before he's had time', does that mean that I can jump him later?" Pandora grinned and his host shrugged.  
>"Of course!" Shinichi grinned and Kaito raised an eyebrow, "provided that you could catch him first." Pandora pursed his lips with a frown while Kaito laughed, understanding that the gem had a more physical side compared to Shinichi.<p>

"Shinichi..." Pandora mumbled and the host smiled at him, making him blink and stare, wondering what kind of emotion he was experiencing since he felt a storm of feelings; all his own, but eventually he settled with happiness and attacked the detective into a hug, "I thought you thought of Kaito as your own, and not ours."  
>Shinichi hummed, feeling conflicted while giving Kaito a glance, and stroke the gem's hair, making the other relax. Pandora buried his head in the detective's shirt and smiled.<br>'_Everyone only cared about what I could give them, but you don't care about my abilities at all. You care about my feelings, no one else did,'_ Pandora thought, knowing that his host could hear him.  
>"Is that so?" Shinichi answered with a smile, "you remembered something?"<br>'_No, it's only a feeling, and that's why I was scared.'  
><em>'What happened to you Pandora?' Shinichi thought with a small sigh, happy that he finally understood why the gem had been so tense lately.

Kaito stared at the unusual display of affection from the detective towards another, finding himself a bit jealous, knowing that he definitely would have had some kind of physical relation with a _willing_ perverted voice in his head, not that he didn't already have a perverted voice in his head, because he did, and it had lately begun to run out of control, especially since Shinichi had begun making serious advances on him. As he looked from the gem to the detective he couldn't help but to wonder if they were having some kind of mental relation. Shinichi suddenly averted his gaze from Pandora and had time to see the suspicious frown Kaito was having, before his poker face fell into place.

"Is something wrong, Kaito? Do you feel odd? Weak? Dying?" Shinichi quickly rattled off.  
>"We're not stealing his life!" Pandora called out in a muffled voice, but didn't release his host, knowing that he would only want to attach himself to the thief if he did.<br>"No, I was just wondering something about your relation to each other," Kaito said slowly, choosing his words carefully, not wanting to offend the detective if he really wasn't as perverted as himself, "does Pandora ever get _lonely_?"  
>"No, not in the same sense as the normal definition of lonely," Shinichi smiled and sent a warm gaze to the gem, "he was lonely before, when I was ignoring him, when he was too weak to speak with me."<br>"Oh," Kaito stopped himself from rolling his eyes at the detective's denseness and tried to be clearer, "have you ever done anything _special_ together?"  
>"We can see in the dark, if one of us controls the body and works together with the other," Shinichi grinned and Kaito chuckled a bit at the cluelessness of his love.<br>"How about anything _physical_?"  
>"Well, the only physical thing is that our eyes glows in red," Shinichi answered and Pandora frowned before he grinned, understanding what Kaito wanted to know.<p>

"Maan!" Pandora laughed and straightened himself so that he was sitting between the detective and the thief, turning to Kaito with a grin, "isn't he the cutest when he's clueless?"  
>"He certainly is!" the thief agreed, understanding that Pandora wasn't as dense, and Shinichi blinked, wondering what they were talking about.<br>"But to answer your question; no," Pandora sighed, "not for lack of trying, but he has his weird opinions about how things are _supposed_ to be."  
>"Oh, I see, can't tell if I'm happy or disappointed by that..."<br>"Why would you be disappointed?" Pandora questioned surprised, "disappointment is my card."  
>"Well, that shows that he isn't very exploratory," Kaito winked, "in those kinds of situations."<br>"Oh! I see!" the gem laughed and sent the thief a smirk, "but there's always me, to push him in the right direction."  
>"I've missed something, haven't I?" Shinichi muttered and Pandora shrugged.<br>"Don't ask me, you're the genius detective."  
>"Kaito?" the detective then asked, wanting an answer.<br>"No, it's nothing important, but I am liking Pandora more and more," the thief grinned and winked at the gem, making him laugh while Shinichi only sighed.

* * *

><p>After half of the next day had gone by Kaito had suggested that proximity might be important, and after Shinichi had pulled him close to himself the thief had opened his eyes almost immediately and winced in pain as he had the worst headache he'd ever experienced. That Sunday Shinichi spent tending to his thief, bringing him whatever he wanted and then watched over him, still holding the blinds closed to spare Kaito's eyes from the sharp winter-light. They spoke about Pandora as soon as Kaito began feeling better, and Shinichi became surprised over how much the thief actually knew about his death and what had happened. On multiple occasions he was about to confess to him that he knew his name, but he was interrupted and the conversation drifted elsewhere so he postponed the reveal and before he knew it they had said goodbye and the thief had disappeared.<p> 


	52. Caught in the Act

A/N: Sorry, I haven't answered to any reviews since the last update. I'll get to them eventually, but I thought that you'd like an update.

And a SubChapter of the reporter! (URL at the end)

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

Uploaded: 2012-09-30  
>Revised: 2014-09-16<br>Chapter rating: T  
>Words: 3,200<p>

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><p><strong>Chap. 52<br>Caught in the Act**

It was a warm winter day, or at least warmer that what it had been the day before and Shinichi couldn't help but to smile while he looked around himself; he was impressed over what the magician had done.

The detective was strangely enough dressed in a Kaitou KID-outfit, so he was perfectly warm, and much to Kaito's delight he hadn't torn it off the moment he'd been forced into it. Shinichi only sat down by the round table, wondering where the warm breeze came from while Kaito had seated himself on the other side and made the food appear from nowhere. Shinichi was happy that he wasn't afraid of heights; otherwise the rooftop dinner wouldn't have been as pleasant as he currently thought that it was. Kaito had cleared a patch of the roof from snow and created a wall of it on one side of the table a couple of metres away to hide them from wind, while he'd placed lanterns on top of it and surrounded them with a few snow sculptures and glowsticks.

He had no idea how the thief even had made the food warm since they'd been to a magician's show, where even Shinichi had had a difficult time unravelling the tricks. Apparently it was an old friend of Kaito's father and the thief had mumbled to himself and observed as he dissected the tricks. Kaito had then invited himself backstage and dragged Shinichi in tow before he took the detective to the roof where they enjoyed a nice dinner.

* * *

><p>After they had both finished their food, and in the middle of a conversation, Kaito suddenly puffed and was replaced by a rather cute, girlish woman, seemingly around her mid-twenties or early thirties. Shinichi could tell that it was his thief underneath the disguise, but wondered why he suddenly out of nowhere had decided to become a girl, dressed in a long jacket, hat, with light brown hair, lying over his shoulders and halfway down an unusually small chest. Kaito winked and then held a finger over his dark red lips, making the detective smile and wait for an explanation.<p>

"Thank you for a wonderful date, KID-chan," Kaito said loudly in a feminine voice and then suddenly got up, "I like what you did to the roof." The thief hesitated for a moment, but then walked up to the confused detective.  
>"I hope that we will meet again," Kaito sighed as he took the liberty of sitting down in Shinichi's lap and threw his arms around the detective's neck.<br>"Of course we'll meet again," Shinichi smiled, understanding that Kaito wanted him to act along while Pandora suggested a lot of things he could say, "I did say that I liked you, didn't I?" Kaito blushed and rewarded him with a tender kiss, which he more than happily returned while holding his arms gently around the thief.

"We're being watched," Kaito whispered once he broke the kiss and began to explain, "and I thought that it might be easier to be together if everyone thinks that Kaitou KID is dating a girl, and not a guy, since I've been suspected of being KID while you've been suspected of being together with me. What would happen if everyone found out that you were together with a guy, a magician, a Kaitou KID-fan, of which whereabouts during the heists was unknown? While Kaitou KID has been show to date another guy?" Shinichi nodded at the thief's statement; it would be much simpler to deny his involvement with KID as long as everyone thought that the thief was straight.

"So tell me," the detective whispered in Kaito's ear, "how did you plan on ending this date?"  
>"Snap your fingers and I'll make the table and everything disappear, and then I thought that we could fly away on our gliders, because that outfit is yours now, since Megure-keibu stole yours," Kaito grinned up against him and winked, while Shinichi grew suspicious; the magician didn't expect him to participate in the heists, did he?<p>

"He didn't steal it," Shinichi smiled and began to speak louder, while Pandora thought that becoming a thief would be great, "I had no use for it, so I left it."  
>"Mou, KID," Kaito whined, "that's just stupid. Didn't it have any sentimental value?" Shinichi blinked, wondering what he should say so that he didn't upset his thief.<p>

"Maybe a little, but I couldn't just take it back. What reason could I have for wanting it back?"  
>"True," Kaito mumbled while Shinichi lifted him up from his lap and then held him in his arms as he stood up, fascinated by the fact that the thief weighed so little for such an amount of muscles that he possessed.<br>"So my dear," Shinichi grinned and snapped his fingers. The roof was covered in smoke for less than a second and everything was gone, even the lanterns and sculptures; it looked like no one had even been walking on the snow. "Shall we?" he hid his surprise the best he could and then backed over to the edge, following the real Kaitou KID's plan, "hold on tight."

Kaito smiled and pulled himself up so that he could give the detective a passionate kiss that made Shinichi swoon. He closed his eyes as he leaned back and allowed them to free-fall into the air, mixing the instinctive fear of falling with the excitement that Kaito was giving him, making him moan from the flare of feelings, enjoying the battle of tongues that they were having.

After a while of falling he pushed the button on the belt and unfolded the glider, making them float through the air.  
>"Wow," Shinichi gasped when he broke the kiss, "that was… Wow."<br>"I've always wanted to try that," Kaito grinned at the detective's dark eyes, feeling just as excited as his boyfriend.

"We have to do that again," Shinichi grinned and Kaito mentally frowned, wondering if he should tell the detective his name right then and there, but he decided that the other person that would be affected had a say in it, so as soon as he got home that evening, after saying farewell to Shinichi and forcing him to keep the outfit, he told his mother, Phantom Lady, that he wanted to reveal his identity to a detective. She, of course, had a lot of questions about how their relation was going, but Kaito had answers for everything. He became surprised by the little to no resistance she showed and before he went to sleep she'd given him her blessing, making him promise to introduce them properly soon.

* * *

><p>Kaito paced in his room, waiting for the alarm on the clock to ring, and when it did he made his way to the Kudou Mansion and got there just as the large clock struck twelve. Kaito found his target inside the library, to his surprise completely awake, reading something by the desk. The thief observed him for a little while, quietly sighing in a content happiness and smiling warmly, knowing that Shinichi's heart belonged to him. The detective stole a glance up and then changed page in the paper, but then jolted his head up with a fearful expression that disappeared as soon as he recognised the white clothes and hat. The thief smiled, almost always using his outfit whenever he was sneaking up on the detective so that he wasn't decapitated by a football, or vase, or phone, or book, or coffee cup, or anything loose that was lying around the house.<p>

"Kaito," Shinichi smiled happily as the thief walked up to him, "I was talking with Pandora, so you actually managed to surprise me. You see, we went out early and we found a little gossip magazine," Shinichi grinned and held it up, showing a picture of Kaitou KID and a girl, standing at the edge of a snow-covered roof, kissing.  
>"Ooh," Kaito sang and grinning grabbed the magazine from the detective's hands, "such a great picture! And this will at least get Hakuba off my back!"<br>"Hakuba?" Shinichi asked and raised an eyebrow.  
>"Yea, he's trying to protect me from you," Kaito explained while he opened the magazine, "I love to watch him panic; he needs to learn that I can take care of myself!"<br>"Oh," the detective answered, "Hakuba is? Why is he protecting you?" Kaito didn't miss the dangerous undertone in Shinichi's voice and he closed the magazine in order to study the detective's expression.

"Because he's together with Aoko, and Aoko is my childhood friend, my best friend," Kaito explained, awestruck by the fact that he could see jealousy burning in the detective's eyes. The dreadful darkness in the blue eyes disappeared slightly, but he still seemed tense so Kaito smiled and continued, "I've decided that I'm not going to hide my identity anymore." Shinichi registered his sentence and then smirked as he leaned his chin on his hand, making the thief narrow his eyes suspiciously. "You already know, don't you?"  
>"Ooh," Shinichi's smile grew even more mysterious, "I know a lot of things." Kaito shook his head with a smile while the detective got up and walked over to a file cabinet.<br>"Why didn't you tell me that you knew?" Kaito asked and watched how Shinichi opened a secret compartment inside a drawer.

"Because I wanted to hear it from you," he answered honestly and pulled out a file, "and this is something I wrote when I researched the DO, before I knew that I was in love with you," the sincerity and warmth in the detective's voice made his heart beat faster as he watched Shinichi's back, "I feared your capture, but I never understood why, until I realised that I was in love. I'll let you read it once you tell me your name." The gentle smile that showed when he turned around, combined with the burning love in his eyes made Kaito lightheaded. He wanted that smile to be broken by a moan passing by the detective's lips, a delightful moan of pleasure as Kaito made him his.  
>"Kuroba Kaito," the thief answered in a hot breath and placed his hands on the desk, "we've met before." Shinichi smirked and handed the thick file over so that the thief could read. With a smile Kaito read the filename; "Kaitou KIDKuroba Kaito" and then started pacing between the bookcases by the door and desk as he read. From time to time he looked up to see that the detective was reading the article in the gossip magazine with a smile, obviously enjoying that he'd deceived everyone.

Kaito got to a rather thick envelope and took it out, seeing a picture of him half-dressed as KID and another of him, just after he'd changed underneath the envelope. He placed the opened file atop the books in the shelf beside the entrance while he opened the envelope and stared at the pictures that were revealed and then sent the detective a glance.

"I see that you investigated me," he commented, but Shinichi snorted without looking up.  
>"What I did was stalking, not investigating. I did it for selfish purposes to get to know more about you, so that I was certain that I wasn't in love with a fake personality," the detective explained and sent him a nervous smile, "I'm sorry. I was supposed to remove those pictures, so that you never got to know that I was actually your stalker."<br>"Wowsie," Kaito exclaimed and picked up two pictures; one of him looking straight into the camera with a suspicious frown and another that had been taken at his favourite café, from what must've been the table next to him, "I can't believe that I didn't discover you! Mighty Phantom Thief... and I missed a stalker that was eavesdropping and taking pictures of me from the table next to ours." Kaito shook his head with an amused smile. "If you weren't in love with me I'd be in jail right now."  
>"Probably," Shinichi answered, "but if I wasn't in love with you I wouldn't have cared about you. I would only have cared about the DO, not about who Kaitou KID was." Kaito placed the pictures back into the envelope and laid it beside the file, watching how the detective walked over to the shelf beside the desk, looking at the dictionaries and he was struck with an idea.<p>

"Hey, Shinichi," he began while the teenager gave him his attention and he bit his lip as he walked up to him, not caring that his file fell to the floor still opened, but upside down, "I'm thinking; the detective and the thief in the library, with a burning log in the fireplace." Shinichi blushed and smiled at the underlying meaning of the magician's words, feeling how Kaito awakened something in him; a deep desire swirled in his gut.  
>"Did you just make a reference to Clue?" he asked with a smirk as he became trapped against the shelves and shivered as heat began to flow through his veins, making him aroused.<br>"What would it take for me to ravish you on the spot?" the thief's voice was dark as he pushed up against Shinichi, and he had to keep himself from crying out for more.  
>"Sorry, but that's not going to happen. If you want sex," Shinichi smirked and grabbed into the white suit, pulling in the fabric and leaning closer to the magician's mouth so that their lips were touching as he continued, "which I want, the bedroom is next. Mine or yours, no one else's." He felt the need to clarify, in case the thief got another crazy idea.<br>"Aw, come on," he begged and carefully nibbled on the detective's lip, "let's do it in the library!"  
>"No," was the only whispered answer he got.<br>"I know you want to," he grinned and then continued in a whisper, "and just so you know; I'm a magician, I can_ swallow swords_." Shinichi couldn't hold himself from laughing, knowing what Kaito was referring to.  
>"Was that some kind of lousy magician's pickup line?" the detective asked with a grin, making the other pout.<br>"I just came up with i-!" Kaito complained, but Shinichi cut him off by kissing him and wrapped his arms around his neck, pulling the thief closer.

* * *

><p>Ran didn't bother with ringing the bell, since history dictated that Shinichi wouldn't answer it anyway, given that he would be sleeping.<br>"Ooh, I sure hope that Isamu-kun gets jealous," Sonoko giggled, "he must see Shinichi-kun as a threat, especially since I told him that you were in love with Shinichi-kun before you met him and that he even confessed to you."  
>"Mou, Sonoko," Ran complained while they walked through the corridor, "don't tell him things like that. I wouldn't want to know about girls that he's been in love with before me." Just before they were about to head up the stairs to wake the detective they heard a laugher from the library.<br>"Hell just froze over; he's already awake," Sonoko grumbled while they changed direction; she'd been looking forward to pouring water over the teenager.  
>"Apparently," Ran mumbled with a small smile and went up to the library, but the sight that greeted her made her freeze in place and gape. Despite the fact that she should look away or alert the two in the library all she could do was stare in shock. Sonoko frowned a little, seeing the blush on her friend's face before she came into sight of what Ran was seeing. She wanted to scream and then hit the detective for having his hands all over her KID-sama, but she too froze in place while the shriek was trapped in her throat and her face began to burn.<p>

Shinichi took a firm grip into the white suit and turned them around, forcing the thief up against the shelf and heard him moan into the kiss, all the while neither of the boys realised that they had been discovered. Knowing where they were going this time the detective loosened the red tie and let it fall to the floor, never breaking the kiss and felt how the thief's hands caressed his back, encouraging him to continue to remove the disguise. He no longer knew who it was that moaned, but he couldn't care less; all he was thinking of was to get his thief out of his clothes and then up to his bedroom, not necessarily in that order, but Shinichi didn't really care.

Ran swallowed and managed to avert her gaze by forcing it to the floor, but once there, an opened file caught her attention, and anything to distract her from looking back up would be good so she read the folder tab and then picked it up, too curious to let go. She stared at a picture, glued into the file, for a moment thinking that it was Shinichi half-dressed as Kaitou KID, but then saw the differences and realised that it must be the Kuroba Kaito that was written on the tab. The next picture however, held the same teenager, but dressed completely as the thief. Ran sent a glance to Sonoko, whose eyes were twitching and seemed to have a hard time believing what was happening in front of her. Ran sneaked the file into her handbag, feeling the need to protect it, and when she looked up, she discovered that the two teenage boys had stopped to regain their breaths and realising that KID, or rather, Kuroba was without his hat and monocle, and had his shirt opened. She cleared her throat making both boys tense and then turned their heads to the library entrance.

Shinichi was horrified, and he immediately looked around the shelves for the file, but as he couldn't see it he assumed that the thief had made it vanish. Awkwardly, he took a few steps away from Kaito, and then slowly held up his hands like he was talking to a very dangerous hostage-taker that was pointing a gun at him.  
>"I <em>can<em> explain," he said at a snail's pace with a furious blush while Kaito tried to come up with a good excuse, but his head was anything but helping, "_this_ is _not_ what it looks like..." The girls blinked and looked between the two, wondering how it could be anything else but what it looked like while Shinichi was having the worst panic-attack he'd ever had, making his head blank.  
>"It really isn't!" he said quickly, wanting to prolong his thinking-time, but came up with nothing so he turned his gaze to Kaito, hoping that he had a solution.<p>

Kaito smiled, trying to hold himself from laughing; the detective had the cutest look he'd ever seen and he recognised it as a carryover from Conan's 'I'm just a cute little boy'-look mixed with pure panic, not really a good combination.  
>"Shin-chan's so cute when he's confused!" Kaito stated and then broke down laughing, making the detective gape and turn his attention back to the girls.<br>"I can explain!" Shinichi forced out and pointed to the laughing thief, "he's insane!" Both Pandora and his host groaned and slapped their face after he'd finished the sentence, feeling just as trapped as when Ran had asked his name after he'd turned to a child, or maybe it was worse...  
>Yes, Shinichi decided, it was worse. Much worse.<p>

* * *

><p>AN: Much happier with this chapter! And this is actually one that I wrote from end to finish! Ha!

**SubChapter. 5  
>The Photograph of Luck<br>**fanfiction(.net)/s/8075943/6/


	53. Sneaky Woman

A/N: Sorry, but there might not be an update for the rest of October since _the tests _are coming and I've been having a hard time studying, everything is so much more interesting...

M rated SubChap! Warning; Yaoi (URL at the end)

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

Spoiler to:  
>Episode 457-458 Sonoko's Red Handkerchief<p>

Uploaded: 2012-10-15  
>Revised: 2014-09-16<br>Chapter rating: T  
>Words: 2,500<p>

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><p><strong>Chap. 53<br>Sneaky Woman**

Kaito shook his head while he watched the detective rub his face, obviously surrendering to whatever the future might hold, but Kaito wasn't about to let the noisiest and most gossipy fan he had know that he was together with Shinichi, not after the precautions they took yesterday, so in a puff of smoke he removed the disguise.

"Kuroba Kaito," he introduced himself with a stage-bow and decided to save the little pride Shinichi had left, "magician extraordinaire! And KID's number one fan!" Kaito grinned, knowing that that sentence would start a fight with Sonoko, "but sadly enough I couldn't get Shinichi into the outfit." He pouted and sent the detective a glance, registering the relieved look on his face.

"I told you!" Shinichi sighed and began acting in on the lie with a lot of help from Pandora, "I don't want you to imagine KID when you're kissing me!"  
>"Just once!" Kaito begged, and continued with mischief glowing from his eyes, "I could disguise as Sherlock Holmes..." The disturbed look Shinichi sent him was answer enough, since he was sputtering too much to get anything serious out.<br>"_How dare you!_" a loud shriek echoed through the house, "to even _pretend_ kissing _my_ KID-sama!" Shinichi made a noise like he was choking, thinking about Kaito holding the loud-mouth in his arms, and received a glare from the woman.  
>"I wasn't pretending!" Shinichi defended himself from the accusing look from the blonde, "he's insane! And... And I can't say no to him...I tried..." The detective slouched with a sigh and Sonoko seemed slightly less angry.<p>

Kaito's phone vibrated and he grinned at the message from the Brit, knowing that the detective must've seen the picture somewhere.  
>'I'm happy for you, and I hope you don't do anything drastic,' Hakuba had sent.<br>'We're going to have lots and lots of babies! And you will be their godfather!' Kaito replied with a grin and looked up to see that Shinichi was explaining the situation to the women. Hakuba didn't respond for a small time, obviously happy with the fact that Kaito had dropped his hopes about Shinichi.  
>'Now, what are you talking about?' the thief wrote down on the phone and sent; anything to make the blonde detective sweat.<br>'What do you mean? The woman on the picture! The woman you're dating!'  
>'Ooh, THAT woman... Who am I dating?'<br>'Don't tell me that it's a hoax!' the detective replied and Kaito laughed, drawing attention to himself.  
>'Panicky, are we? I'm just pulling your leg!' Kaito didn't receive a response after that, but happily walked up to the crowd by the library's entrance, hearing Shinichi describe the first time they met as Kaito and Shinichi, face to face on a heist. Ran was studying him with a disbelieving look and narrowed her eyes suspiciously, while he only sent her a smile, thinking that she was looking at him like that because she was evaluating him as a partner for her friend. Kaito glanced to the floor, where he knew that the file had landed, but assumed that Shinichi had picked it up since it was gone.<p>

* * *

><p>Shinichi made his way towards the kitchen, stealing glances at Ran that was staring at him in dissatisfaction while she walked beside him, listening to the two voices a couple of metres behind them that were arguing over who was the number one KID-fan.<br>"I can't believe that you're actually dating KID," Ran confessed, making the detective ready to tell the lie again, "what happened to your wish to be a detective?" She pulled out the file from her handbag before her childhood friend had time to respond, "next time, don't leave evidence lying around. Now tell me; why?"

Shinichi stared at the file in her hands and took it as she handed it to him, swallowing his nervousness at the fact that he was revealed.  
>"Because," he began and looked into her eyes, "I love him. And he's harmless; he doesn't hurt anyone, and he returns what he steals." Shinichi sent a glance back at the thief that was holding an annoyed expression on his face. "I will protect him, to the very end," Shinichi stated seriously and then took a deep breath.<br>"Kaito!" he called out, ending the argument the thief had been having with Sonoko, "come here!" The magician immediately hung over his shoulder and then sent a glance to the file, realising that Ran now knew who he was.

"Don't leave evidence around for people to see it," Shinichi smiled and waved a bit with the file, "and get the pictures, will you?"  
>"Yes-yes, I already took the envelope," the magician smiled and made the file disappear. "It's nice to meet you Mouri-chan," he continued and seemed more KID-like, "I guess that you know and won't tell on me." Ran watched how the thief laid his head on the detective's shoulder and gave him a hug that made her childhood friend smile. She sighed and shook her head; how could she reveal his identity when he made Shinichi smile so happily.<p>

"Hurt him and I'll make sure that you regret it," Ran beamed lovingly and Kaito paled.  
>"That's what I told Hakuba when he began dating Aoko, but somehow you're ten times scarier because I know what you can do," Kaito confessed and sent her a wink, "don't worry. If Shinichi stood in front of a mirror, holding a rose, he would see two of the most beautiful things in the universe. I don't think I can even live without him." Shinichi blushed happily, but Ran didn't look the least impressed and only glared at him, making him go numb.<br>"We'll see about that... And since you are you, I'll only give you one chance," she stated, punching her fist into her open palm and sent Sonoko, who just joined them, a glance before she continued, "Shinichi, do you remember that you promised to take me and Sonoko shopping?"

For a second the detective looked clueless, and then laughed awkwardly after Pandora told him when he agreed to it, down to the second in a perfect imitation of Hakuba.  
>"Yes," he stated with an apologetic smile and began to make his way towards the door, "sorry, I completely forgot."<br>"Aw, but I don't wanna go shopping!" Kaito complained and then whispered in Shinichi's ear, "I know something much better _we_ could do. Alone, upstairs, naked, in your bed."  
>"Who told you that you could come?!" Sonoko roared, still angry over the fact that the magician had 'pretended' to be KID, but Kaito only detached himself from his boyfriend and fuelled her anger further by childishly sticking his tongue out.<br>"Like I'm going to leave my Shin-chan with someone who sets him up on dates against his will!" Sonoko snorted at his statement, obviously not caring about how uncomfortable the dates had been to the detective.

"But it would be a good thing if he could come," Ran mused aloud as they left the house behind themselves and Kaito raised an eyebrow, "if Isamu gets to know that Shinichi has a boyfriend he won't have to worry."  
>"Why would he worry if I didn't have a boyfriend?" Shinichi asked intrigued, while Kaito only smiled happily at the fact that Shinichi had called him 'boyfriend'.<br>"Because Sonoko told him some stupid things," Ran muttered as she blushed.  
>"I just wanted to make him work harder for you; you're making it too easy on him!" Sonoko defended herself while Shinichi deadpanned, remembering the time that the blonde had forced her boyfriend to camp in a forest in order to find a red handkerchief that she'd tied to a tree.<br>"And you're making it too hard for _anyone_ to be your boyfriend!" Shinichi stated loudly, "after what Conan told me I feel sorry for Makoto."  
>"Bah! KID-sama could handle it!" Sonoko called out and missed the magician's horrified look at the thought of being together with the young woman. "Ah, my KID-sama can handle anything! But that evil <em>bitch<em> has gone and tricked him! KID-sama..." a tear ran down Sonoko's cheek and she sniffled a bit, "I'll save you from the clutches of that horrible and ugly woman!"  
>"<em>Who're you calling ugly?!<em>" Kaito growled and then continued to defend Kaitou KID's choice in women.

"Shinichi," Ran whispered and the detective eyed her, "did you dress up as a girl just to trick some reporter?"  
>"Ran," he blushed and sent the arguing teenagers a glance as he whispered just as quietly, "who, of Kaito and I, have a history of dressing up as women?" His childhood friend sent the thief a glance and Shinichi nodded, making her point to him and gape.<br>"Wouldn't that mean..." she hissed even quieter, "you were KID on that photo!" Shinichi nodded with a chuckle.  
>"Correct," he answered and she began to giggle while sending him an amused glance.<p>

* * *

><p>They met up with Isamu and Shinichi introduced himself feeling that the man was a bit tense, until Kaito gladly introduced himself as his boyfriend and then kissed Shinichi, making the detective nervously fidget while he looked around himself to make sure that no one had seen him or recognised him; it would be bad if KID got a girlfriend the same night that Shinichi got a boyfriend, that would be too much of a coincidence. After the shopping, while they ate dinner at a restaurant, Shinichi's phone went off and he answered, not understanding a single word that his mother was rattling off.<p>

"Mom... Mom... _Mom!_" Shinichi called out a little louder, keeping his voice low enough not to disturb the others in the restaurant, and gained the interest of everyone around the table, "calm down. I can't understand you. What did dad do now?"  
>"Oh, Shinichi! I'm so sorry!"<br>"Wha-?" the detective blinked confused and then grew worried, "what happened? Is dad okay?"  
>"Yes, of course he's fine!" she answered a bit angrily, "but you." The woman winced, "oh, Shin-chan you must be heartbroken! I'm coming home to take care of you!"<br>"What? No!" he answered quickly, knowing that he didn't want his mother around the house if Kaito and he were going to take their relationship one step further, "don't come home! And what do you think is wrong with me?"  
>"Don't you dare to play strong in front of me, young man!" she scolded and Shinichi stared blankly in front of himself wondering what was going on.<p>

"I-, I'm so confused that I honestly don't understand anything you're saying..."  
>"That thief!" she screamed in the phone, making him wince from the sharp sound.<br>"Don't scream," he demanded in a complaining voice and waited for her to continue.  
>"Aw, Shin-chan!" she sighed, "I really thought that you and that thief would become a couple... You loved each other! I can't believe that he would go and betray you that way!"<br>"_What?!_" Shinichi hissed and turned away from the others, "how on earth did you know about that?"  
>"A mother always knows," she stated proudly while Shinichi blushed, "and then I saw the picture on the internet! That cheating bastard!"<br>"Have you told dad?" he asked warily, ignoring her comment about Kaito and met the magician's questioning gaze.  
>"No, of course not!" his mother giggled, "he's so frustrated that he can't find out what I know! Or how I learnt it! Oh, and on a related note; I haven't had my period for two months! But I'm coming home to get that thief and teach him not to hurt my baby-boy!"<p>

"Wow! Hold your horses!" Shinichi glared into thin air as he blushed, "you're pregnant?"  
>"Didn't I say that?"<br>"Yea, kind of," the detective deadpanned, "but the normal way to let your son know that you're having another child is saying; 'you're going to have a sibling' or 'I'm pregnant' _not _the way you said it..."  
>"You know what I mean..."<br>"Yea, yea," Shinichi muttered and took a bite of his food, ignoring the curious stares that followed his every move, "I'm happy for you. Have you thought about a name?"  
>"Actually we thought that if it's a boy we'll name him after Toichi," she said in a warm voice, "since he save your life."<br>'_I like that name,_' Pandora quickly stated, '_he'd probably be honoured.'_

"Pandora likes that name," Shinichi smiled and let his mother know that the gem was communicating, knowing that no one else but Kaito understood the sentence.  
>"Pandora? You can talk to each other now?"<br>"Yes, you can tell that to dad in case he gets close to figuring out that I'm gay," Shinichi smiled and then frowned, "but what picture was it that upset you?"  
>"The one where KID is kissing that woman," she sighed, "ooh, Shinichi. I understand how you must feel!"<p>

"Mom," Shinichi complained, "I'm fine, and please don't tell dad about me. I-, I guess that I want to tell him myself, when I'm ready."  
>"Don't worry, there's no way that I'm going to tell him anything!" the woman giggled in the phone, "but are you sure that you're alright? Do you want me to call that detective friend of yours who helped out after the cure, Hei-chan?"<br>"No!" Shinichi gasped and dropped his chopsticks on the table, "whatever you do; Don't come home, and Don't. Tell. Hattori! For God's sake, please, don't tell him what you know!" Yukiko giggled and hung up without saying anymore, leaving her son terrified that she would call Hattori to tell him that he was in love with KID, which was exactly something she could do. Shinichi stared at the phone in his hand and then deadpanned; even if his mother called Hattori he could deny it with telling him that she was having a personal vendetta against him for not introducing her to his boyfriend, Kuroba Kaito. Hattori would believe him, hopefully.

"That sneaky woman knows everything," he muttered and sent Kaito a glance to let him know that it was about him, "_everything_."  
>"Is she going to call Hattori and tell him about me?" Kaito asked with a smirk, "that sure would make Hakuba's head explode."<br>"Hakuba?" Ran asked curious, "as in Hakuba Saguru, the detective?"

"Yes, we're in the same class. He's together with my childhood friend Aoko, Nakamori-keibu's daughter," Kaito grinned and Ran stared at him in disbelief, understanding what the second 'everything' had meant while she thought that Hakuba would dislike the competition and realised what a mess the thief's life must be.  
>"By the way Shinichi," Kaito turned to his boyfriend, batted his eyes and continued with a sorrowful voice, "are you so ashamed of me that you don't even want to tell Hattori, your self-proclaimed best friend, about me?" Shinichi didn't look happy over the question even though he could see that the thief wasn't serious.<p>

"You do know that that wasn't what I meant," he muttered, "how do I even tell him about you?" Kaito tilted his head, not really understanding Shinichi's dilemma while the only thing he could think about was what kind of shock Hakuba would get once he got it thrown in his face that Kaito had successfully wooed the Great Detective of the East, but now he had another detective to mess with; how much fun couldn't he have with the oblivious Osakan? As it showed, Kaito got to mess with Tantei-han much sooner than he'd thought.

* * *

><p>AN: If anyone has forgotten; Isamu is Ran's boyfriend

**SubChapter. 6  
>One Step Further<br>**fanfiction(.net)/s/8075943/7/


	54. Never Poke a Sleeping Magician

A/N: I call bullshit on my statement that I won't write anything. It's like saying that I won't breathe for the rest of October!

AW-meeting  
>Me: Hello, my name is Nech and I'm a writeoholic...<br>Everyone: Hello Nech.

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

Uploaded: 2012-10-23  
>Revised: 2014-09-17<br>Chapter rating: T  
>Words: 3,300<p>

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><p><strong>Chap.54<br>Never Poke a Sleeping Magician**

A week went by and Kaito spent most of his time with Shinichi in Beika, even though the detective had been over to his house a couple of times.  
>"Hey, Kuroba-kun," Ran said after she opened the door to the mansion, surprising the thief as he walked out of the kitchen with a glass of water, "where's Shinichi?"<br>"I told you; call me Kaito, and he's in the library," Kaito smiled and studied the woman, noticing that she no longer seemed to give him harsh looks, "he's doing homework." He stuck out his tongue with a disapproving grunt and she huffed at him, but then seemed like she got an idea.

"I was going to tell him that Kazuha-chan and Hattori-kun are coming over tomorrow and are going to stay a couple of days. Hattori-kun wants to surprise Shinichi, but I think it would be best if Shinichi told him that he fell in love with a nut job. Could you just sit beside Shinichi so that I can send a picture of you two to Kazuha-chan?" Kaito grinned at her question, knowing exactly what kind of picture he wanted her to take and ignored the remark on his sanity, "I told her that Shinichi's got a boyfriend and that she shouldn't tell Hattori-kun, but she wonders what you look like."  
>"Sure!" Kaito grinned and was about to run away, but stopped himself, "wait five minutes and I'll give you a picture worth taking." The magician winked and before Ran had time to protest he'd placed the glass on a small hallway table and disappeared into the library.<p>

"Kaito! Get off!" she heard her childhood friend call out and decided to stop whatever the thief thought was a good idea. When she got to the library Ran watched how Shinichi had been pinned to the settee and struggled to get his boyfriend off.  
>"What's wrong with you?" Shinichi asked with a frown after Kaito had given him a quick kiss, "I told you that I have to read the rest of the stupid book and write a paper on it; it was supposed to be in yesterday. I even had to beg Anzai-sensei to let me turn it in later, so I have to be finished <em>tonight<em>. Can't you wait till later?" Ran blushed at the implication of the sentence while Kaito shook his head with a grin.  
>"Just a kiss," he begged and lowered himself so that he could steal one from the detective that only scowled and turned his head away, "just a teeny-weeny kiss." Ran pulled up her phone with a mental sigh, realising that there probably was no way that she could ever get the magician to sit still beside Shinichi.<p>

With a loud thump the couple was lying on the floor with an annoyed Shinichi pinning Kaito down.  
>"I told you to wait; I'm busy," the detective explained patiently, but Kaito didn't look happy.<br>"No, I was supposed to be on top! This is all wrong," he complained and struggled, making Shinichi smirk. Hearing the thief's whine Ran took a picture as Shinichi bent down and gave him a gentle kiss, she then hid the phone in her hand and cleared her throat, causing her friend to fly up from the floor and sit down on the settee.  
>"Excellent timing," he commented with a small blush rising to his cheeks and Ran sent a glance to the pouting magician, who had failed his mission in getting a picture of him on top.<p>

"Hattori-kun is coming over tomorrow. He wanted to make a surprise visit and stay for a while, now that spring break is next week, but I thought that you might want to warn him about your insane boyfriend before he gets here," Ran informed him and opened her phone to send the picture to Kazuha.  
>"He's coming? Here?" Shinichi panicked slightly and turned to the thief that sat on the floor, "Kaito, can you please not flaunt that you're, <em>him<em>."  
>"I'll try," Kaito said with a smile, but his eyes were laughing wildly.<br>"Please," Shinichi begged, "you do realise that getting a detective to fall for a thief is an accomplishment while falling for a thief would ruin all respect Hattori has?"  
>"Is it really that bad?" Kaito asked and hid the fact that the comment had stung painfully in his heart, "hell, you made <em>the<em> Kaitou KID fall for you; how is that not an accomplishment?"  
>"For a detective to fall for a thief, <em>any<em> thief, is bad, and Hattori would laugh at me, not to mention that he wouldn't be able to keep quiet about it!"  
>"Ah, but he has no evidence!" Kaito grinned.<br>"It doesn't matter; if he knows who you are and goes after you, your luck won't do. Hattori will first try to convince me to haul you in, then he'll try to get me too! He'll try to get me to do a slip up on tape or he might search the entire house for clues; Hattori doesn't follow your happy little 'Rules of Engagement' where everyone only tries to catch you in the act! And if he manages to convince the press that you're Kaitou KID it would be bad, ooh, so bad," Shinichi took a breath and was about to start again, but Kaito began talking.  
>"Are you paranoid? Or is 'your best friend' actually your arch nemesis?"<br>"Huh?"  
>"After what I've seen of Hattori, I can't say that I for a moment believe the scenario your painting up. First off; he'll never freaking believe that <em>you<em>, for a second, are together with a criminal. He'll probably say something along the lines," Kaito cleared his throat and began speaking in the Osakan's voice, "there's no way that Kudou would be together with a criminal! Ya' need ta get yer head examined, old man... Or, how about; Kudou and KID, are ya' insane? Why tha hell would Kudou get together with 'im? He's been tryin' ta catch 'im!" The detective couldn't help but to smile at Kaito's 'upset Hattori'-voice, while Pandora and he agreed that they might have _slightly_ overreacted. The thief caught a glance of Shinichi's smile and stopped his ranting, seeing happiness sparkle in the blue eyes.

"Kaito?" Shinichi asked with a smile, "did I tell you that I love you?" Kaito grinned at his question.  
>"What? I didn't hear you quite clearly," he smirked and his boyfriend bent down and placed a loving kiss on his head.<br>"I overreacted," Shinichi confessed and received a single nod from the other.  
>"Hattori has on blinders when it comes to you, just like Aoko and Nakamori-keibu have them for me. I'm only Kuroba Kaito, Kuroba Toichi's son, a prankster magician who loves hogging the spotlight."<br>"I don't know about tha-,"  
>"Are ya' hearing me Blondie! There's no way that Kudou would ever kill anyone!" Kaito called out, remembering what Hattori had said to Hakuba when they met at the Hagiwara Hotel, and then continued in his own voice, "now tell me again that he doesn't have blinders on."<br>"Okay, you win," Shinichi sighed and realised that Ran was still standing in the doorway to the library, giggling at her phone and had ignored the entire conversation.

* * *

><p>Kazuha was sitting in a restaurant, eating dinner with her father and Heiji, and had smiled when she saw that she got a message from Ran; knowing that it must be a photo of Kudou's boyfriend or the 'cute couple' she'd been laughing about. Once she opened the phone she stared at the picture colour rose to her cheeks and she gaped. The phone buzzed as she got a second message.<br>'Guess who's who!' Ran had sent and Kazuha looked around to make sure that no one saw what kind of picture she looked at before she got back to studying it, frowning as she did so.  
>'The top one?' she sent after a while of staring, 'he seems more... Detective-y.'<br>'Correct!' Ran immediately responded while Kazuha blushed.  
>'And they aren't related?'<br>'No, that's why it's so funny that Kuroba and Shinichi are together; they could be twins!'  
>Kazuha blinked and took a better look on the picture seeing that there only were a few differences.<br>"Oi, Kazuha?" Heiji's voice suddenly brought her out of her musings and she gave him her attention, "ya' aren't gettin' sick, are ya'?" She stared at him and then slapped her hands over her burning cheeks, trying to cool them.  
>"No, I'm not," she muttered and he sent her a disbelieving glance.<br>"If ya're gettin' sick ya' should stay in Osaka."  
>"I'm not gettin' sick! Ya' ahou! Ya' wouldn't understand anyway! It's a girl-thing!" at the mention of 'girl-thing' she could see her friend's eyes narrow until he blushed and coughed a bit awkwardly, and she knew that he had misinterpreted the sentence in some way, but she had no intention of correcting his misunderstanding so she just continued to send messages to Ran.<p>

* * *

><p>"Are you going to call Hattori-kun now?" Ran asked as she looked up and Shinichi felt like it was an order even though it was phrased like question, "or are you going to shock him like you did to me?"<br>"I'm going to call him," Shinichi mumbled and pulled out his phone, he waited for a while and then heard how his Osakan counterpart answered with a happy greeting.  
>"Hey, Hattori. I heard that you're coming over tomorrow."<br>"Damn it! Neechan told ya', didn't she? I told Kazuha not ta tell her, but she didn't listen!"  
>"Yea, but I think that it was for the best... When will you arrive?"<br>"Twelve at the train station. I was goin' ta surprise ya'. Ya've been so busy lately and ya' haven't visited like ya' said!"  
>"Sorry, Hattori," Shinichi sighed, "I should've upheld my promise."<br>"No, worries! Ya' just have ta buy me some lunch when I get there, I heard of a really great restaurant from my favourite chef! And I think that we should check it out!"  
>"Yea, sure! You're cheap!" Shinichi laughed, but then grew serious as he threw a glance on Kaito, "but there's a reason as to why I'm calling you now."<br>"Oh?"  
>"Yea," Shinichi hesitated, wondering how he would phrase the reveal, "there's something I'd like to tell you before you come. You see, I've found someone I like..." He trailed off and the Osakan laughed.<br>"Someone, other than Neechan? That's great Kudou! Ya' have ta let me meet her!"  
>"Yes, but that's the thing," Shinichi sighed, "it's not a woma-." A loud scream echoed through the phone and Hattori interrupted the detective.<br>"Oi, Kudou. Yer curse struck through tha phone! I have ta go!"  
>"I'm not cursed!" the phone clicked and Shinichi growled in annoyance. 'Pandora,' he thought, 'can our curse strike through the phone?'<br>'_What? I jus-, what? No! Are you a moron?'_ Pandora called out in confusion of the question and then laughed as Shinichi deadpanned, '_I can't believe that you just asked that!'  
><em>'How am I supposed to know?'  
>'<em>How about logic?<em>'  
>'How's a talking jewel in my head logical?'<br>'_I... might see your point...'_ Pandora grinned and got back to playing dress-up with an imaginary Kaito, which was very distracting to Shinichi when he had a boring book to read, especially since the gem's giggling made him curious.

* * *

><p>The very next day the alarm clock in the room went off with a loud noise, making Shinichi groan in irritation and shut it off as he got up. Without even opening his eyes Kaito managed to latch onto his waist and pull him back to bed with a soft thud.<p>

"Not yet," the magician complained and somehow managed to drag him underneath the blanket and entangle their bodies, "five more minutes." Shinichi smirked and stroke the magician's soft hair until he felt that he'd fallen asleep. The detective carefully freed himself and slowly eased off the bed leaving behind a sleeping teenager.

* * *

><p>"Wake up!" a voice called out to him and shook him.<br>"Go away," Kaito groaned and turned around, but felt that something was off, something about the voice and scent; he could smell foreign spices.  
>"Oi! Kudou!" the person laughed and Kaito spun around with wide eyes, realising that the voice didn't belong to Shinichi and then glared when he registered the dark skin on a familiar face.<br>"Hattori," he muttered and held the cover to his stomach as he sat up, making sure that it hid the fact that he was naked, "what do you want?"  
>"Who's a grumpy boy?" the Osakan grinned and Kaito scowled at him, for a moment thinking that Shinichi had sent the detective to wake him, but quickly realised that it was highly unlikely.<br>"I'm sleeping, come back tomorrow!" Kaito fell back into the soft bed with his back towards the annoying detective and pulled the cover to his shoulders, wanting to get some more sleep.  
>"No way, Kudou!" Hattori grinned and Kaito suddenly realised that the Osakan hadn't been picked up on the train station by Shinichi if he'd managed to confuse the detective with him, but before he had the time to say that it was a misunderstanding Hattori had grabbed into the cover and Kaito immediately understood what would happen. He reached out to underneath the sheets and just as the detective pulled the cover away a smoke bomb exploded. Much to Hattori's confusion 'his friend' was standing on the other side of the bed, completely dressed, not even a second later.<p>

"I'm up," Kaito muttered and drew a hand through his messy hair and sent the clock a glance, "happy?" Only a quarter had gone by since the alarm went off, which meant that the Osakan had arrived early and that Shinichi had had the time to make a cup of coffee, drink it and gone to the shower, "why are you here so early?"  
>"Ya're worse than Kaitou KID," Hattori snorted amused and earned a grin from Kaito, "and I took an earlier train; I wanted ta surprise ya'."<p>

A sneaky thought had entered the magician's mind; a lovely idea, a great experiment and a fantastic punishment.  
>"Oi, Hattori, you can wait in the kitchen, there should be some coffee in a pot," the thief said and started to walk out of the room with his hands in his pockets, "I'm going to take a quick shower."<p>

Kaito walked through the corridor and heard the Osakan's steps disappear down the stairs before he picked the lock on the bathroom door, opening it to hear the sound of a shower. He brushed his teeth as he picked up the detective's phone, turned it off and placed it in his own pocket before he smirked and tore open the blue curtains, making Shinichi jolt from the shock and push up against the wall.

"Kaito!" he complained when the magician allowed his gaze to travel over the detective's naked body with hungry eyes. Shinichi grumbled as Kaito left him to spit out the toothpaste and got back to rinsing himself, ignoring the thief to his best efforts. Kaito grinned as he quickly got undressed and joined the detective in the shower, immediately wrapping his arms around his waist and started kissing his neck.

"Sorry about scaring you," he murmured and Shinichi huffed.  
>"Sure you are,"<br>"Let me make it up to you," the thief grinned and moved a hand down to his groin, groping his detective and made Shinichi sigh.  
>"I don't have time," he muttered, knowing that the magician would eventually win, "damn it, Kaito"<p>

Kaito smirked as he finished his shower and got out.  
>"Yea, you're right," he said in a mischievous voice, "you need to get going."<br>"Oi, you're not going to leave me like this are you?" Shinichi stared at him in disbelief.  
>"See you later Shin-chan!" Kaito grinned and was gone in a puff of smoke, leaving behind a horny boyfriend that muttered curses and started to plan punishments for his thief as he was forced to turn the temperature down to cold.<p>

* * *

><p>"Okay, let's go," Kaito said as he found the other teenager in the kitchen with a coffee cup in his hands and Hattori raised his eyebrows while he sent a glance to the watch.<br>"Did ya' really have time ta shower, or did ya' just a dip yer head in tha toilet?"  
>"Oi!" Kaito called out and ruffled the still wet hair, "don't insult me when I hurried so that I wouldn't keep you waiting!" The thief made his way to the door followed by Hattori, leaving behind a single cup in the kitchen and a handwritten note on the bedside table.<p>

* * *

><p>Shinichi got out of the shower in an ever so slightly bad mood and searched for his phone, wondering there he'd placed it. He ended up calling it and received his own voicemail, but knowing that he hadn't turned it off he called the thief, who was the only one that could've taken it or turned it off just to mess with him. He sighed as he received Kaito's voicemail and decided to call Hattori to tell him that he might be late, but received his voicemail too. Shinichi shook his head and went into his room, seeing a note beside the alarm clock.<p>

"_Gone out to assess the competition!  
>~Love Kaito"<em>

Shinichi raised an eyebrow and shook his head, thinking that it was something KID-related, and ignored it as he got dressed.

"Shinichi!" Ran's voice called out from the floor below, and he went downstairs.  
>"Ran," he greeted as he saw her, but then realised that Kazuha was with her, "Kazuha? You're here? Weren't you supposed to arrive around twelve?"<br>"Yea, we were, but Heiji still wanted ta surprise ya', so we took an earlier train," the young woman explained and Shinichi pulled out the note, "isn't he here yet?"  
>"Oh, no," he groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose, "that explains everything Kaito did." The females looked at him in confusion and he handed the note to them.<br>"He tricked Hattori that he's me and now..." Shinichi sighed as he interrupted himself, realising that he had no idea what the magician was planning, "we need to find them." Shinichi took his jacket and ran outside, hoping that they hadn't gotten too far, but knowing that it was hopeless given that the thief could vanish within five seconds and the twenty minutes he'd spent from the moment Kaito tore open the drapes till he was out of the door meant that there probably wasn't even a trace of them.

* * *

><p>Kaito grinned as he listened to the dark-skinned detective compare his lunch to the food in Osaka and began planning his revenge by acting nervous and a bit jumpy, but still insisted that it was nothing even though he clearly showed that something was wrong, which in turn made the Osakan suspicious.<p>

Just after they'd left the restaurant a red car stopped by the street and Takagi exited the car, running past them and into the restaurant.  
>"Kudou-kun!" Satou waved with a smile to them, "how have you been?"<br>"Satou-keiji!" Kaito exclaimed with a smile, not really wanting to involve the officer in his scam, "I'm good, how about you?"  
>"I'm great; have you eaten at this restaurant before?"<br>"Only just now, actually,"  
>"Their food is great, isn't it?" Satou smiled, "Takagi and I always go here whenever we have the time."<p>

"Hattori-kun? Kudou-kun?" a voice stated behind them and they turned around to see Takagi with a bag in his hands, containing the food that they had pre-ordered.  
>"Hi, Takagi-keiji. It's nice to see you," Kaito exclaimed before the officer had time to say anything more, "but we really should get going now and you should enjoy your lunch." Kaito grabbed into a confused Hattori's arm and was about to drag him away, but as if Lady Luck had abandoned him the radio came to life and stated a code that the thief recognised; someone had died, and the scene was even less than a block away.<br>"All right, let's go!" Hattori grinned and Kaito saw what was about to happen before he was forced into the car and then kidnapped to a crime scene.


	55. Never Mess With Hattori

A/N: Okay, Hattori is a bit out of character in this one in the last scenes...  
>Cracky chapter...<p>

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

Uploaded: 2012-11-01  
>Revised: 2014-09-17<br>Chapter rating: T  
>Words: 3,500<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Chap. 55<br>Never Mess With Hattori**

Kaito wrinkled his nose at the messy living room with a dead body on the couch and sent a glance to the detective that was examining it. Hattori had assumed that it was a murder and had challenged him to a competition over who would solve it first in the police car. Kaito didn't take the challenge and stubbornly glared out through the window for the entire ride as he ignored the detective, annoyed by the fact that he was dragged to some place only to look at a corpse. It wasn't like he couldn't deal with dead bodies; he just didn't particularly like them. Blood was what he hated, even though it didn't come close to the horrendousness of demonic water creatures as long as he wasn't covered in it. The dead man was middle-age, somewhat overweight and had apparently swallowed all the sleeping pills that had been held in a plastic container that was now lying on the floor below the couch.

The thief kept his distance as he pretended to think about the case and saw the annoyed expression Hattori had before he sneaked into the kitchen to avoid the body. Kaito let out a quiet breath and leaned against the wall while he observed the small room; it was messy with dishes in the sink and clean pots and pans on the stove, but what interested him was that it smelled like he'd been making something delicious in there recently. Kaito examined the cutting boards and knives, realising that they were all quite high standard. Wondering what the man had been making he opened the door to the trash and stared at the few perfectly cut pieced of vegetables and meat. Curious Kaito pulled up a small piece of paper, seeing a receipt from last evening. He clicked his tongue and closed the cabinet as he sent the pans a glance; had the food even been made complete yet?

"Hungry?" Tome joked as he passed the kitchen and saw that Kaito opened the fridge. The thief hummed and stared at the bowls of prepared food and sauces. That didn't add up; no one would make food and then kill themselves before they had it done, unless something happened. A phone call? Containing a break up? Someone's death?

Kaito walked up to the phone and pressed the redial button.  
>"Oi! Yuu, you idiot! What are you doing? Hurry up and get over here! We're getting drowned in customers!" a man answered and Kaito blinked; how did Shinichi speak whenever he coaxed information out of his victims and lured them into a corner to confess?<br>"May I ask where I've called?" the thief questioned and heard a bit of silence on the phone.  
>"I'm terribly sorry; I must've read the number wrong. I thought that it was a friend that called. Welcome to the Ohayashi restaurant, how may I be of assistance?"<br>"How many stars do you have?" he asked.  
>"Five stars, we have the best food and service," the man said proudly.<br>"And this Yuu is one of your chefs?"  
>"Yes, he's the best, and will receive a harsh scolding when he gets here."<br>"What's your name?"  
>"I'm the owner Ohayashi Tamotsu, may I ask what this is all about?"<br>"My name is Kudou Shinichi and I'm investigating the death of Tanaka Yuu. Do you know if he was depressed or anything?"  
>"No, he definitely wasn't. He loved his job and was always helping out his neighbours. He went to an orphanage somewhat close to his apartment and used his own money to make them high class food every Monday when we're closed. He was a saint. How was he murdered?"<br>"I never said that he was murdered-,"

"You're Kudou Shinichi, you are a homicide detective; what else could it be if you're there?"  
>"I only happened to speak to the officers that were closest to the scene, so I ended up here. When did Tanaka-san call you?"<br>"Well, yesterday to tell me that he'd come up with a new recipe that he wanted me to taste, apparently he'd 'discovered heaven', as he so put it. I told him that I'd love to and then he asked me if I could come in a bit earlier so that he got to make it before we opened. I waited for him for two hours, but he never showed up."  
>"What was your relationship with Tanaka-san?"<br>"Well, we became friends during the last years of University. He worked extra in a restaurant beside the school and I once forgot my phone there. I always dreamed that I would have a shop of some kind, but once he introduced me to 'The Art of Cooking' I decided that I was going to open up a restaurant. We've been friends ever since," Ohayashi sighed, "so he's dead? As in _actually_ dead?"  
>"I'm afraid so," Kaito said and shook his head.<br>"I can't believe it. We spoke yesterday and he was so happy. He can't just be... Gone," there was a quiet sigh on the line and the man continued, "Yuu would never kill himself so please find his murderer or murderers, I'm begging you."

"Did you know if he had any enemies?"  
>"No... Or maybe, now that I think about it. I think it was around two months ago when the two of them started to have problems. I tried to get Yuu to tell me what it was, but he refused, saying that I shouldn't worry. One of my chefs, Sasaki Nobu quit soon afterwards, but before he did I sometimes caught him staring at Yuu. They were friends one day and the next hated each other, neither of them could handle being in the same room as the other. Yuu is-, I mean; was, a chef so good that he could get hired anywhere, but he still stayed with me. We designed this place from the foundation to the walls and roof. We did everything together; he even taught me how to cook, but... No, he can't be gone... It's... It's so surreal; I spoke to him yesterday..." The man grew quiet and Kaito cleared his throat.<br>"Could you come to Tanaka-san's apartment?"  
>"Sure, I'll leave Kenji in charge and I'll be there in half an hour,"<br>"Good, see you then," the thief hung up, thinking that the man sounded honest.

"Damn it, it's just a simple suicide!" Hattori complained as Kaito got out of the kitchen and frowned; he wasn't a detective, so maybe he was wrong in his conclusion that it was a murder. He couldn't play around with Shinichi's track record either, so he didn't want to be wrong.  
>"Hattori, why did he kill himself?" Kaito asked and examined the door as the detective turned to him.<br>"Because he was depressed or a drug-addict; have ya' seen his medicine cabinet?" Hattori asked and Kaito began to doubt his own conclusion.  
>"How was this door opened when you found the body?" he asked and looked into the corridor.<br>"He always had a key underneath his doormat, so I just used that," one of the tenants stated and the detective turned to him.  
>"Wait! Didn't ya' say that ya' used tha landlord's key?"<br>"No," he man shrugged, "I said that I used the key. I never said that it was the landlord's. I just came in here to turn off the alarm clock, since I live next door and I work nights; I need all the sleep I can get. It's been ringing once an hour ever since seven."  
>"Damn it, then this isn't even a sealed room" Hattori muttered, "no one who has decided ta take their own life leaves a door unlocked or a key ta open it. Oi, Kudou; how did ya' know that it was a murder?" Kaito grinned at the question, but dialled it down as he remembered where he was.<br>"Elementary, my dear Hattori," he began and the detective raised an eyebrow, but then gave the thief a glare, "he came up with a new recipe that he was making in the kitchen, before he was killed. He interrupted his cooking and went shopping for ingredients around eight. And must've been murdered just after that, before he'd had time to continue." The thief looked around and then left the room with the disgruntled detective to find the bathroom.

Kaito sighed as he read the labels on the many bottles full of pills; they were all painkillers, sleeping pills and antipyretic, and he no longer knew if he'd jumped to conclusion when he decided that it was a murder. He took up a bottle and stared at it; it was the only one opened and it was a half-empty bottle of aspirin. He pulled up Shinichi's phone and glared at it; he wanted his boyfriend's help, but he'd just hope that the Osakan would solve it. The Detective of the West was good after all.

"Oi, Hattori," Kaito woke the detective from his musings, "every Monday Tanaka would go to an orphanage close by and make them food, using his own money. What if the medicines are for someone else?"  
>"How do ya' know that?"<br>"I called Ohayashi Tamotsu, a friend of Tanaka-san, and owner of the restaurant where he worked," Kaito shrugged, "he's on his way here right now."  
>"Ya' called 'im? And didn't get tha police ta get 'im?" Hattori asked with a disturbed face, "what if he's tha murderer? He could be running right now!"<br>"I don't think so, he sounded honest," Kaito stated and the detective gaped, but then placed a hand on his friend's forehead.  
>"No fever," the detective frowned, "something's wrong with ya', Kudou. An' I want ta know what it is." Right on cue there was a knock on the door and as it was opened by Megure Ohayashi stepped in with a quick greeting.<br>"Told you so; I'm pretty good at reading people," Kaito stated as soon as he recognised the voice.

"Kudou-san," Ohayashi exclaimed after he'd stared at the blanket covering the body on the couch, "what can I do to help?" Kaito smiled at his question and decided to dump everything on Hattori.  
>"You can start by telling Hattori, over there, everything that you know and answer any questions he might have." The man nodded and walked over to the dark-skinned detective.<p>

* * *

><p>It took Hattori three hours to solve the case after all the suspects had been gathered, while Kaito only stayed away and from time to time caught the Osakan staring at him suspiciously. Once he heard what had happened he understood why it took so long to solve; the case dragged back all the way to high school where Tanaka Yuu once had gotten drunk enough to blackout at his party and then found a senior's body in the bathtub. He'd called the police and the case had been deemed as an accident, but Tanaka never forgave himself, which was why he cooked food in the orphanage and gave medicine to those who couldn't afford it. The reason for his death was the fact that Sasaki Nobu, the other chef, confessed to Tanaka that he was the one who tapped up the bath after he'd found the sleeping teenager in it, simply to wake him up, but in his intoxicated state he'd forgotten to make sure that the teenager had woken up. Tanaka had told him to go to the police to confess, but Sasaki had refused, saying that it was the boy's fault for drinking too much. Tanaka had then told him that he had two months to solve any financial business and confess to the police before he turned him in, but during those months Sasaki had stalked Tanaka and in the end come up with a very complicated way to fake an alibi while he'd only held a gun to Tanaka's head and forced him to take the pills.<p>

* * *

><p>Kaito was quiet on their ride back to Beika. After the murder he didn't feel like continuing on his plan, he only wanted to get back to the safety of Shinichi, but when Hattori grabbed his arm with a hard gaze he couldn't help himself.<br>"Kudou, tell me what's wrong," he demanded just outside the gates, "ya' know that ya' can tell me anything. Ya' were not yerself today."  
>"Um, it's just that," Kaito considered telling the detective the truth, but went with his first plan instead, "do you remember what I said on the phone yesterday, just before the scream?"<p>

"Yea, ya' said that ya'd found someone else... Did she break up with ya'?" Kaito sighed at his question and shook his head powerlessly.  
>"I said something after that too... Do you remember what?" the thief watched the Osakan frown for a while.<br>"Ya' said; 'Yea, that's tha thing, it's not a woma-,'" Hattori interrupted himself and stared at 'his friend' with wide eyes, "it's not a woman? _Not a woman?_ Ya'-, Ya're _gay_?" Kaito smiled a bit awkwardly while he waited for the detective to recover from the shock.

"Yes, Hattori; I'm in love with a guy," Kaito fidgeted a bit and swallowed, fixing his gaze with Hattori's eyes, seeing a blush spread over the detective's cheeks as he realised what the heavy atmosphere meant.  
>"Heiji," Kaito continued after he pulled up Shinichi's phone from his pocket and turned on the recorder, "I fell for you, and I love you deeply. Even though I know that you don't love me back I still need to ask; do I even have a chance?" Hattori gaped with his face flushed bright red, but then cleared his throat.<br>"I'm sorry, Kudou. Although, I am flattered, but I'm not gay. Ya're my best friend, an' I hope that this won't change that."  
>"No, no-," Kaito shrugged a bit half-heartedly, "I knew that you would say that, but I still needed to confess. I'm sorry if this makes things awkward between us, but I promise that I won't make any advances on you."<br>"Thanks," the detective smirked and seemed happier with the 'explanation' than Kaito had thought.  
>"Come on," the thief winked, "I bet terrible-looking, yet delicious food is on the table by now." Hattori blinked confused, but still followed the magician that walked through the gates to the mansion.<p>

Hearing the door close Shinichi immediately went to see what the magician had done to Hattori and to scold him, but the sight that greeted him was not what he expected; Hattori was unharmed and happy while Kaito looked exhausted despite smiling like a maniac. When the Osakan saw Shinichi his eyes widened and he stared from one copy to the other.  
>Kaito stalked forward and wrapped his arms around his love, inhaling his scent.<br>"Kaito, what's wrong?" Shinichi asked and the Osakan started to see differences on the two.  
>"the stupid detective dragged me to a crime scene, and I was forced to pretend like I knew that I was doing. I wanted to call you for help, but I took your phone. But Hattori's a good friend and not an enemy," Kaito released his boyfriend and pressed the button to play the recording as he gave back the phone.<br>"Hattori accepts your confession and wants to stay friends," Kaito laughed and walked into the dining room where Kazuha and Ran were sitting.  
>"Confession?" Shinichi asked while staring at the detective and listened to the recording of the conversation, "<em>he<em> confessed _my_ feelings to you?"  
>"Yea, kind of."<p>

"So..." Shinichi chuckled, "I take it you've met my boyfriend, Kuroba Kaito."  
>"Weird guy," Hattori mumbled, "I even dragged 'im out of yer bed."<br>"Aha? So everything was revenge for waking him?"  
>"How much of yer relationship is based on narcissism?" the detective asked and then grinned at the annoyed expression the Detective of the East gave him, "ya' look like twins, ya' know."<br>"Shut up, or you're not getting dinner,"  
>"Hah! Ya' can't say that," Hattori laughed as Shinichi left to get back to the kitchen, "only the cook can decide who eats and who doesn't!"<br>"I _am_ the cook!" Shinichi called back as the Detective of the West followed him into the room where the girls waited.  
>"<em>What?!<em> _I'm going ta die! Imminent food poisoning!"_  
>"Shut up! I've taken cooking classes!"<p>

"Should I call tha ambulance an' have them standing by? Or should I just tell them ta park outside yer house?"  
>"Shut up!" he glared at the teenager and pointed to a chair, "sit down."<p>

"Good boy," Kaito grinned when the detective did as he was told and Hattori sent the magician a glare.  
>"We've been waiting for you two, so the least you could do is look a little bit ashamed," Shinichi stated as Kaito tried to give him an innocent look, but the detective turned his back to him and went to get the food.<p>

Shinichi came back just as Kaito was performing a magic trick, and the detective deemed it as 'innocent enough'. The thief grinned as the food was revealed, seeing that it looked just as horrible as it always did.  
>"That's it," Hattori muttered and patted his pocket, "I'm calling tha hospital."<br>"Hattori-kun, Kazuha-chan," Ran began with a smile close to laughter, "I've tasted Shinichi's food and it's good, but it looks bad."  
>"Yea," Kaito snickered, "the worse it looks, the better it tastes!"<br>"Shut up," Shinichi muttered and blushed as he sat down beside his boyfriend.  
>"Shit, I must've dropped my phone," Hattori muttered and Kaito smirked as he handed it back to him.<br>"Sorry, I took it," he said with a grin, "I didn't want Shinichi calling in the middle of my plan!"  
>"Ya' took my phone?" Hattori glared, "I don't like it when someone does that..." The Osakan detective studied his friend's boyfriend, not entirely certain of what he thought about him.<p>

* * *

><p>Heiji had decided that the strange KID-fan was harmless, until he found out that his hair had turned pink in the middle of him brushing his teeth, but even though he was about to get in the shower he decided that a well-needed revenge was appropriate.<p>

He was lying in the bed, smirking at his already perfect plan to annoy the magician. Heiji had noticed that Kuroba was very possessive of his boyfriend and would tense or fidget every time Neechan touched Kudou during the game of monopoly. Heiji had decided to hit on his Eastern counterpart, and given that Kudou was completely clueless he wouldn't get it, but the sensitive Kuroba would definitely see it. The dark-skinned detective yawned, realising that he was thirsty and got up from bed to go to the kitchen.

On steps light as feathers he slowly made his way through the corridor towards the stairs and kitchen, but froze as a loud moan passed through the door to Kudou's room.  
>"Kaito!" a voice immediately hissed, "be quiet."<br>"Oh, come on!" Kuroba complained, "he's in the other end of the corridor! It's not like he's going to hear us in his sleep!"  
>"Have you even heard what we sound like in bed?" Kudou grumbled and Heiji blushed as he realised that he was eavesdropping on his friend, "we're loud, as in <em>really<em> loud."  
>"I'll be quiet, just fuck me senseless," Kuroba chuckled and Heiji grinned; suddenly he got a much better punishment for the magician. The detective sneaked down the stairs and poured himself some water before he made his way back.<p>

"Shinichi!" the magician called out and the Osakan knocked on the door.  
>"Sorry ta interrupt!" he called out with flushed cheeks.<br>"Hattori!" Kudou squeaked, and Heiji could hear the dread he felt for being overheard.  
>"But if ya're goin' ta be yelling an' stuff, remember that I'm a detective an' will think 'murder in progress'. I'll buy some earplugs tomorrow, but they only do so much," the detective left the door with an evil grin as he heard a groan in disappointment and rustling, indicating that Kudou probably began getting dressed. Heiji had time to get halfway back to his room before the Detective of the East opened the door and stuck out his head.<p>

"Hattori! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to wake you!" Shinichi called out to the other detective, seeing him wave a hand over his shoulder.  
>"No worries! Just don't scream; I don't want ta barge in on ya' two. Tha mental picture is bothering me enough," Hattori disappeared into the room and Shinichi closed his door. He sighed and slouched against it, receiving an annoyed look from Kaito as the thief stared at him, waiting for him to come back to bed, but Shinichi only hung on the door. Stark naked Kaito walked up to him and gave him a kiss.<br>"It's not that bad, is it? Come back to bed," he begged, seeing his boyfriend's blush, but when Shinichi didn't answer Kaito simply dragged him back to bed, undressed him and held him close.

"I don't feel like doing anything when Hattori's around," Shinichi mumbled and Kaito nodded.  
>"I understand," the thief whispered, knowing that that was what Shinichi wanted to hear, but as he gave his boyfriend a loving kiss he made a silent promise that he was going to make Hattori's life a living hell. The detective could, after all, have stayed quiet and ignored them, but chose not to, and how was he supposed to survive without any nightly activities for however long Tantei-han was staying?<p> 


	56. Live and Let Live

A/N: Maybe not as good as I hoped, but hopefully you'll enjoy it anyway!

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

Uploaded: 2012-11-12  
>Revised: 2014-09-17<br>Chapter rating: T  
>Words: 2,500<p>

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><p><strong>Chap. 56<br>Live and Let Live**

Shinichi couldn't help but blush every time he looked at Hattori, who just seemed happy with pretending that last night never happened. The detective left the kitchen to retrieve the newspaper, missing the way Hattori leered at Kaito and the way the thief glared back.  
>"What the hell is wrong with you?" Kaito growled lowly, pissed off by the Osakan's continued grin, "you could've stayed quiet and ignored us."<br>"I could ask ya' tha same thing. Maybe ya' shouldn't have pretended ta be Kudou..." the thief was about to retort, but was interrupted by his phone.

"Kaito, could you come over?" Aoko asked and Kaito sent the detective a glare.  
>"How important is it? I'm training," he said with a cheerful voice, which cut horribly against his irritated expression and made Hattori shiver.<br>"Please, come over. I don't know who to talk to," Aoko sounded strange in the phone, like she wasn't far from crying.  
>"Oi, Aoko," Kaito asked in real concern, "what's wrong?"<br>"It's about Saguru," she responded weakly and Kaito scowled.  
>"What did that damn detective do? Do I need to kick his ass?" the thief growled lowly, "I can humiliate him in ways not even Kaitou KID could think of!"<br>"No-no, don't hurt him!" Aoko called out, "just come over, please."  
>"If he hurt you, there isn't a place on the planet where he can hide from me!"<br>"_Don't hurt him! BaKaito! Don't you dare! If you're just going to be stupid then don't come over at all!"_ Aoko hung up and the magician stared at the phone before he realised that he now had a second detective to deal with; what's with all the detectives that were attacking from all sides?

"Listen to me, _Hattori_," Kaito muttered, "don't get on my bad side; it's nasty. You have no idea of who you're messing with..."  
>"Oh, I'm terrified," Hattori grinned and nonchalantly sipped his coffee, "but I could say tha same. Don't get on my bad side, or else..."<br>"Or else _what_?"  
>"Or else," the detective grinned evilly and saw how the Detective of the East entered the kitchen, "Kudou!"<br>Shinichi blushed and responded with a greeting, missing the heavy atmosphere as he sat down and read the paper all the while Hattori sent the magician a smug glance and Kaito narrowed his eyes.

"Shin-chan! I have to go to Aoko," Kaito smiled, and all signs of hostility were gone when the detective looked up, "she's apparently having some relationship problems." Shinichi nodded and got back to reading, missing the way the other two glared at each other when Hattori got up and then winked at Kaito.

"Oi! Kudou!" the Detective of the West grinned as he sat down beside his friend and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, sending a challenging smirk to the thief, "I never got ta take ya' to that restaurant! So how would ya' like me ta kick yer ass in a game of football an' then we'll go there. Tha loser in tha game pays for tha food, popcorn and tha movie we're goin' ta see later. Tha winner gets ta chose movie. How about it?" Kaito's eyes widened when he realised what the detective was doing, but Shinichi only looked up with a frown.  
>"You want to play football in the snow?"<br>"Yea, why not? Are ya' afraid of a little snow?" Hattori grinned and leaned in closer, "I'll beat yer ass in any weather."  
>"Deal," Shinichi smirked and pointed a finger at Hattori, "be prepared to swallow that pride when I kick <em>your<em> ass! There's no way that I can't win!"

"Ha! Like that's goin' ta happen!" Hattori called out and Kaito felt torn; Aoko needed him and Shinichi was way too dense for his own good, but Shinichi was fine. Hattori wasn't gay and was only doing things to annoy him while Shinichi was in love with him, but Kaito still feared that his detective would develop feelings for Hattori. The thief smiled strained and decided to get to Aoko fast, but he needed to stop by his home first so that he could leave a heist note for tomorrow in Nakamori's kitchen and then find Shinichi and punish Hattori; a perfect plan since he knew where they were going.

Kaito vanished out of the kitchen in a spurt, brushed his teeth and was then out through the door faster than what was humanly possible. Hattori got back to contently eating his food, knowing that he'd annoyed he magician to no end, and then read the newspaper after Shinichi.

"How come ya' took cooking classes?" he suddenly asked and the Tokyorite gave him his attention.  
>"My food was eatable, to me, but I decided that if I ever got Kaito to like me he couldn't do all the cooking..." Shinichi sighed and sipped his coffee, "it's unfair, you know, Kaito just plays mad scientist and laughs when he cooks and it always turns out good." The Detective of the East snorted amused, "you should hear him, he sounds insane... Sometimes it looks a bit strange, but never as strange as my food looks."<br>"So ya' learnt ta cook for 'im?" Hattori raised an eyebrow.  
>"Yea, I guess,"<br>"Ya' really love tha guy," the Osakan smirked and Shinichi blushed, "it's good that ya' found someone. I know how hopeless ya're when it comes ta things like that, an' I almost feared that ya' would be alone for tha rest of yer life, but it only took ya' a little less than a year ta find that guy. Were ya' really in love with Neechan?"  
>"I don't know, Hattori, I honestly don't," Shinichi sighed, "from time to time I think that I was, but then I look at Kaito and is certain that I never was, not the same kind of love anyway." Hattori smiled and watched the detective that seemed to realise something. "How can you call me hopeless when you haven't even confessed to Kazuha?"<br>"I don't like her!" Hattori quickly defended himself with a blush rising to his cheeks and Shinichi snorted.  
>"Yea, right... And you say that <em>I'm<em> hopeless..."

* * *

><p>Kaito greeted Nakamori as he opened the door without knocking and disappeared up the stairs, making the inspector raise an eyebrow.<br>"Aoko!" he called out and then ran though her door without knocking, but what he saw made him angry, "what the hell is wrong with you?!" The blonde detective jumped away from the girlfriend that he'd been kissing, thinking that the magician was mad at him while Aoko did the same. "What's wrong if you're kissing him?"  
>"BaKaito, he was shot!" the woman yelled as she made a gesture to the detective and Kaito sent an unimpressed glance to the arm that was held in a sling; he'd had worse, and he'd been forced to take care of it himself, "I called you two hours ago, where were you? And you didn't even answer after that!"<br>"Sorry, I wasn't at home," Kaito sighed, still feeling agitated and glared at the blonde Brit, showing all of the annoyance he felt for Hattori, "can I still humiliate him?"  
>"No!" his childhood friend called out while the detective paled at the unusual display of anger from the magician's side.<br>"Well, then. Everything here is fixed, which means that I can leave to kick another detective's ass for intruding on my turf! I have to go and protect what's rightfully mine!"  
>"Which detective?" Hakuba called out, but Kaito was already gone, leaving behind two blushing teenagers, whereas one was worried about getting caught for aiding a criminal.<p>

Kaito ran and made it to the restaurant that they'd been to yesterday and then waited for an hour without any detectives showing up. He tried calling them, but Hattori had used the same trick as him and turned off their phones. Thinking, the thief suddenly remembered that Shinichi always carried transmitters on his watch in case he needed them, and had the monocle Kaito had made for him in his pocked in case he needed to follow the transmitters; Kaito had, after examining Conan's glasses, made a few updated on the monocles. An evil grin showed on the magician's lips and he pulled up his own monocle from his pocket.  
>"Bingo," he said as he found them and headed for their location.<p>

* * *

><p>Hattori smirked as he brought the detective to another restaurant than the one he'd been to before after they'd been walking around Tokyo, thinking that he was out of trouble. It was an old-looking restaurant decorated with low lighting and a small fruit bowl on each table and since the magician wasn't nearby he had no reason to hit on Shinichi, but as Hattori was about to sit down beside his friend a grinning Kaito joined them, sitting opposite to his boyfriend with his arms folded.<br>"Oh, I made it in time," Kaito remarked at the stunned detective and watched how Shinichi sent him a sunny smile. "Just so you know, _Hattori_, turning off your phones won't make you any harder to find; you've got no idea of _who_ you're messing with when you're trying to steal Shinichi from me." The Detective of the East frowned and looked from the Osakan to the thief seeing them glare at each other.

"Kaito, Hattori isn't interested in me that way," Shinichi blushed as a memory from the night before flashed through his mind, "you even confessed to him, remember?"  
>"He's still hitting on you..." the thief pouted and Hattori gaped.<br>"What on earth makes ya' think that?" the dark-skinned detective asked in a fake shock, sending a glance to a confused Shinichi, "yer boyfriend's way too overprotective ta be healthy."  
>"Kaito, you know that I'm only interested in you, and Hattori used to pick me up and carry me around as Conan."<br>"Wait! Ya' told 'im about that?" Hattori asked in real shock and Kaito gave off an amused laugh, "ya' never even told Neechan."  
>"I might act stupid, and silly, but my IQ is still higher than yours. I might not use it to logically find killers though evidence, but I use it to create the impossible," the magician said smugly as he pushed up his sleeves and slowly took up an orange from the fruit bowl and then carefully rolled it to Shinichi, who took it up while Kaito began speaking lower, "I knew who he was, but I dismissed it since it was impossible; that kind of magic doesn't exist, but then I found out about the Apoptoxin." Seeing Shinichi stare at the orange Kaito let a very KID-like smirk show, "go ahead; open it after you've examined it."<br>"How long have ya' known each other? I've never even heard tha name Kuroba Kaito," Hattori muttered and blinked confused as the Detective of the East peeled off a piece, showing another kind of peel underneath.  
>"You might have heard of Kuroba Toichi. He was one of the best magician's in the world, and my father. My parents were friends of the Kudous, so Shinichi and I apparently played when we were small," Kaito chuckled at the look of disbelief as the detectives examined the apple that was revealed once Shinichi had removed the orange-peel.<p>

"How did ya' manage ta do that?" Hattori exclaimed and took up the peel to examine it, "ya' must've exchanged the fruit just after ya' got here, but why are ya' carrying a thing like that around?"  
>"Taste it, Shinichi," Kaito grinned and the detective eyed him in suspicion before he took a bite, but spat it out as he expected it to taste of apple. He stared at the bite, seeing that the fruit pulp apparently was that of an orange, making it an orange covered with an apple-peel, covered by an orange-peel, and he huffed amused, deciding to tease Kaito a bit. Shinichi folded the piece he'd spit out in a napkin, and after he wiped up a drop of juice that was travelling along his chin with a finger he licked it off, a little too slow to be usual, but as he sent Kaito a glance he told him that it was all for him. The detective wiped his hand on the napkin and smiled as he saw the redness on his boyfriend's cheeks. Hattori was staring at the bite in the fruit, trying to find an explanation while Shinichi took up the menu to order a coffee.<p>

Kaito had been messing with Hattori the entire time, causing his cup to tip over and making his silverware drop to the floor. The Osakan had no idea why he was so clumsy and spilled water on someone he passed as he tripped over a woman's bag, while Kaito only grinned innocently towards his glaring boyfriend as the Osakan was slapped when the woman he'd spilled water on realised that his hand had 'accidently' ended up on her right breast, so as a punishment Shinichi ordered in a chocolate cake with whipped cream and a cappuccino. Licking the foam off of his lips, eating in a slightly different manner and 'accidently' getting whipped cream on his finger caused the magician to have a near constant blush on his cheeks throughout the rest of their entire meal, and made Hattori less 'clumsy'.

Shinichi had too much fun with teasing Kaito, so when they got on to a packed train he luckily ended up in front of Kaito so that he could lean back against him while Hattori stood beside them. The detective smirked back at his boyfriend, enjoying the conversation they had, and that he could see Kaito swallow thickly and make him stutter by brushing against him, until their stop came up. There was a small puff of smoke and Hattori's hair had turned blonde.  
>"Kuroba!" the Osakan called out and chased the laughing magician though the doors to the platform.<br>"What do you want, _Hakuba-chan_?" Kaito called back and Shinichi left the train in a normal pace, ignoring the loud argument the two teenagers had as they ran around a vending machine.

* * *

><p>It wasn't until later that evening after the movie when he went to bed that Kaito made an attack and got him undressed.<br>"Kaito, no," Shinichi mumbled and the magician sighed.  
>"After what you did today you're still saying 'no'," he grumbled and pouted as he lay down beside his boyfriend.<br>"That was only teasing, and you've been messing with Hattori the entire day," Shinichi answered and let a hand travel over his thief's chest, "I can't go further when he's around; I feel nauseous just thinking about it."  
>"All because Hattori is her-," Kaito interrupted himself and grinned.<br>"No, you can't throw him out," Shinichi commented.  
>"I was thinking that we could go out. We could go to me. Mom is staying with a friend since I'm staying here so our house is empty..." the thief grinned as Shinichi seemed to consider it and immediately came up with multiple ways to get the detective in bed. Kaito straddled his boyfriend with a smirk, "we could stay there <em>all night long<em>."  
>"Okay, let's go," Shinichi smirked and Kaito dressed them both in a puff of smoke.<p>

* * *

><p>AN:  
>A Wild Author appeared!<br>Wild Author uses double update!

No I did not steal that from 'D'... Okay, yes I did... XD  
>I just find it hilarious!<p> 


	57. The Impossible Couple

A/N: Sad author is sad. OFAW only has a few things left in the timeline; I feel almost nostalgic.

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

Uploaded: 2012-11-21  
>Revised: 2014-09-17<br>Chapter rating: T  
>Words: 4,200<p>

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><p><strong>Chap. 57<br>The Impossible Couple **

Hattori was shocked when he heard the front door opened, and as he went to investigate he found the owner of the house laughing at something together with his boyfriend.  
>"Kudou? I thought ya' both were asleep," the Osakan commented with a steaming cup in his hands, "I didn't want ta wake ya'."<br>"We got up early and went out for a walk," Shinichi grinned as he eyed the dark liquid in the cup and the detective snorted at the obvious lie, "how long ago did you make coffee?"  
>"Three minutes or something," Hattori said as he went towards the living room and Shinichi abandoned his boyfriend for the black beverage.<p>

* * *

><p>Saguru wasn't happy when Nakamori called him early in the morning to help solve a heist note he'd found in the kitchen the evening before, especially not after the magician seemed to want to humiliate him, not prank him, but <em>humiliate<em> him. The thief never saw his pranks as humiliation, and those consisted of making people cross-dress, cover them in feathers and gluing them to any available surface, so what did the thief consider humiliating? What was even worse was how the note ended.

"_Will combining the day of east and west allow for the sun to catch the moon?"_

Saguru could only make that out to mean one thing, so he pulled up his phone and called.

"Kudou," Shinichi answered the phone and sipped his cup of coffee.  
>"Tell me," Hakuba immediately demanded, "is Hattori staying with you?"<br>"Yes, why?"  
>"Damn," the Brit muttered while Shinichi made his way to the living room and was unable to stop himself from ranting, "I don't like his rashness, even though I quite agree that the first priority is to save the victim, if possible, but he might damage evidence."<br>"Do you want to speak with him?" Shinichi wondered as he got into the living room and was about to hand the phone over when Hakuba continued.  
>"No, but KID sent a new heist note," the blonde stated and Shinichi sent a glance to Kaito, "he's challenging the two of you. He wrote 'Will combining the day of east and west allow for the sun to catch the moon?'."<br>"Oh? When's the heist?" he asked and watched his boyfriend 'act innocently' as he tilted his head with a small smile and blinked, trying to look as cute as he possibly could.  
>"Tonight, at eight," Hakuba sighed as he rubbed his forehead and felt the bullet-wound itch, "can I assume that you two will be joining in?"<p>

"Yea," Shinichi muttered while glaring at Kaito, "if Kaitou KID sends out such an obvious challenge there's no way that Hattori and I can't attend."  
>"Was there an option not to?" Hakuba asked nonchalantly, not allowing his voice to convey the hope he felt.<br>"After last time I'm not entirely sure about attending," the Detective of the East sighed, thinking back to the kiss with a small blush, "but he's been dormant for a long while. What is it; 6 weeks?"  
>"6 weeks, 5 days, 11 hours, 30 minutes, 5 seconds and 17 milliseconds,"<br>"Oh? So almost seven weeks? That's quite a while..."  
>"Yes, for him it is. Nakamori wants the both of you to come to the police station at twelve, so I guess that I'll see you then, and don't mention our impending trip to the Sherlockian's meeting to Hattori; he'd get jealous, and only the gods knows why he's so bloody possessive of you."<br>"Yea... Who knows..." Shinichi muttered and downed the rest of his coffee.  
>"Well, I'll see you later then, bye,"<br>"Bye," the Detective of the East hung up and gave Kaito another glare before he turned his attention to Hattori, "we're going to the police station at eleven. Kaitou KID has issued a challenge to the both of us so Nakamori wants us there at twelve."  
>"Oh? KID knows that I'm here? Is he keeping an eye on ya'?" Hattori laughed and Kaito smirked at his denseness; today Hattori was free from his pranks since he had a very pleasant evening to look forward to.<p>

* * *

><p>Saguru ignored the Osakan to the best of his ability as he was more than terrified of what the thief was going to do to him than the small insults to his pride that came from the other detective.<br>'What's worse than getting glued into a dress and a pair of heels? Getting hung upside down, naked, outdoors, in the cold, for the entire world to see?' the blonde shuddered at the thought, deciding that he'd found something worse, 'what if Kuroba decided that it's something that's going to involve Hattori?' Saguru paled as he thought of all the things that the thief could force him to do if he put his mind to it; all involving some kind of physical contact with the other detective.  
>'But would he really go that far?' the Brit continued musing, sending a glance to the arm in a sling, 'I am injured after all. He wouldn't hurt me, would he?' Saguru was uncertain, as he remembered how protective the magician was of his childhood friend.<p>

"Oi, Hakuba?" Shinichi walked up to the pale detective and gently grabbed into his shoulder, "are you okay? You seem ill."  
>"Yea, yea, I'm fine. I was shot yesterday and lost a lot of blood, so I'm a bit tired," the blonde explained in a half-truth, "I just hope that KID won't hurt me."<br>"Don't worry about that," Shinichi smirked, "I'm certain that he won't. He's probably going to be busier playing with Hattori since you're injured. He never hurts anyone after all."  
>"I hope you're right," the British teenager murmured with a sigh.<p>

They waited in silence for the chaos to begin; Hattori in excitement, hoping to catch himself a thief and win over both the Brit and his eastern counterpart. Saguru in silent panic, hoping that his reputation wouldn't be ruined, while Shinichi worried over the same thing, quietly begging Kaito in his head not to do anything stupid like kissing him or targeting Hattori too much.

The time came and with a flash of light Kaitou KID stood in the middle of the room in all his white glory, grinning as he now had he full right to punish Hattori thoroughly without getting his boyfriend too angry with him; Hattori had after all entered the building willingly and thereby agreed to the rules.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! Welcome to tonight's show and sorry for the short disclosure! But I think that we can manage!" the thief grinned and saw how the taskforce made a jump for him. After dropping a smoke bomb he shot the grappling hook around a beam in the ceiling and dropped one of his new purple slime bombs as he was pulled up. Throwing a new smoke bomb to the floor made him 'magically' appear on a completely different place and he dodged the Osakan that made a jump for him while gassing him at the same time. He avoided his own boyfriend with a laugh and cuffed both his wrists and ankles before he had time to attack again. Kaito smirked as he danced around a few attempts of catching him and gassed some of the taskforce members that had managed to avoid most of the slime, only to suspend the rest of them in the air with the help of evil fishing line.

Kaito turned with a grin to the blond that had only been along in order to help plan traps, but in honesty he was only there to make sure that the traps weren't designed good enough to catch KID. Seeing the evil grin, Hakuba couldn't stop himself from taking a step back, but struck a square column and realised that the thief must've placed glue on his back as he became unable to move.

"Now now, Tantei-san," the thief looked concerned as the Brit struggled a bit before giving up, "I heard that you were shot. Shouldn't you be in a hospital bed or something? Like normal people?" Hakuba blinked confused at the fact that the thief sounded sincere, even though that could simply be his poker face, but as the thief walked up to him he still feared that the humiliation wasn't an empty threat.  
>"Tantei-san, what happened?" Kaito asked with a small smile as he leaned on the side of the column beside the detective, waiting for his target to awake.<p>

"There was a kidnapping and I reacted, but I didn't have much time to think since the girl would've died if I didn't save her, but I got shot because of it," Hakuba confessed and looked away from the thief that raised an eyebrow.  
>"You should be more careful. What would Nakamori-chan say if you got yourself killed?"<br>"Shut up! I'm not going to take relationship advice from you, KID!"  
>"Oh? You've already had this conversation with her in some fashion, haven't you?"<br>"Go away... Steal the jewel, act silly, do whatever you normally does and leave me alone if you're just going to play relationship counsellor."  
>"Yea," Kaito said with a thoughtful voice and placed his hand on his chin, as if he was thinking, all the while keeping an eye on the taskforce members, the sleeping detective and his lover, "you know, I've been thinking a lot, and think that I could really use a career change. You see, I found this woman, a marvellous woman that, oh, she's so amazing, but then I heard about you getting injured and thought on my own situation." Kaito sighed and made the detective eye him in interest.<p>

"I have to say that I feel sorry for her," the blonde muttered, "are you aware of the witch-hunt that's going on?"  
>"Yea, I know. Five women with a similar appearance have been cornered and questioned, but neither was my lovely queen. Do you think that I'm not keeping an eye on her so that she's not getting into trouble with those shark-like reporters?"<br>"Oh? And what career does she want you to take instead of this one?"  
>"I already have a perfect carrier outside of these heists, but I could moonlight as your therapist, you might need one."<br>"Oh? And you don't?" Hakuba grumbled annoyed and struggled against the glue, "I'm not the one who throws myself heedlessly off of skyscrapers!"

"You're almost cute when you're angry," Kaito laughed and watched how his boyfriend managed to pick the last lock on the chains that restricted his ankles. "You know, Meitantei-san, you're getting better at that," the thief remarked with a grin as the detective stood up, "those locks were specially designed by me for you so that you would be unable to pick them. You make a better thief than you think, and I think I might have to upgrade my locks." Shinichi muttered under his breath and then spun around and forced Kaito to dodge a small ball that bounced on the wall behind them, before he made a run for him, not caring about holding back.

Shinichi avoided the gas bombs and managed to drive the thief around the room before Kaito saw that the Detective of the West was waking up. Letting Shinichi grab into his suit he pulled up a handkerchief and forced it over his boyfriend's mouth and nose. The detective struggled, but then relaxed and Kaito caught him as he fell, easing him carefully to the floor.  
>"Nighty-night, Meitantei," the thief whispered and jumped to the side as something was swung at him from behind.<p>

"Ya' get away from 'im! I'm yer opponent!" Hattori stated with a confident smirk and held what seemed to be a broom without its head towards him like it was a sword. Taking a quick glance towards the other end of the room confirmed his suspicion as he saw that the head was lying by the wall.  
>"Well, good morning, Tantei-han," the thief grinned as he finally he got what he wanted; Hattori awake, "slept well?"<p>

Instead of answering Hattori made an attack and Kaito cursed the fact that he couldn't defend himself with anything else but his card gun and grappling hook. He knew that the Osakan was good at kendo and he felt ridiculous as he avoided the attempts of taking him out, but as Hattori missed the tripwire crossing the floor he stumbled and Kaito saw his chance. In a puff of smoke the detective was dressed in a brown wig with long hair, makeup and a French maid's outfit, unaware that it was all glued to his body, while he held a feather-duster instead of a dangerous stick.

Kaito broke down laughing as Hattori let out an undignified squawk and dropped the duster as he made sure that the short skirt covered his private parts, even though he could feel that his boxers were still safely in place. The taskforce members that were awake stared in disbelief; the thief had never gone that far before, sure he would put them in a dress from time to time, but it was never something that exposed their bodies.

"Aw, Tantei-chan! I'm sure that your boyfriend will love that outfit!" Katio chuckled and the detective glared at him.  
>"I'm not tha one who's gay! Ya' maniac!" Hattori roared and made the thief jump away from him as he made a kick against him, "give me back my clothes!"<br>"Nope," Kaito grinned and backed towards the wall behind the Brit as the detective decided to ignore his outfit and stalked forward to hurt him. Just as Hattori made an attack Kaito avoided it and spun them around so that the detective slammed his back into the wall while he jumped away and watched with glee how the dark-skinned detective struggled against the glue that restrained him to the wall.

Realising that he was stuck he began yelling obscenities before Kaito sighed and sprayed him with his can of pink sleeping gas.  
>"You don't think you went too far?" Hakuba asked as the thief passed him and nonchalantly walked up to the display case.<br>"He had it coming," Kaito stated while he opened the case and picked up the jewel.  
>"What?" Hakuba asked disturbed, wondering what the Osakan could've done to annoy the thief and immediately remembered what the magician had told him the day before, which meant that Hattori had unknowingly come in contact with the mystery girlfriend.<br>"As fun as tonight has been I shall now take my leave," the thief bowed theatrically and then walked past the officers in a purple pile with a grin.

* * *

><p>Shinichi stirred and then woke up. Confused he wondered why he was lying on the floor before he remembered exactly where he was and flew up from it. He stumbled a bit and then looked around.<br>"How long was I out?" he asked the taskforce member known as Masaaki while he cut the line that restrained them.  
>"He just left, if we hurry we might catch him," the man commented and Shinichi nodded, immediately running out through the door, followed by four taskforce members. The detective avoided the strings that went across the hallway, not keen on finding out what kind of traps they activated. Seeing the way the famous teenager jumped and dodged the officers did their best to replicate him, but one after one they were caught and got stuck in various traps until it was only Shinichi left.<p>

"KID-san," the detective made himself known as he caught up to the magician that was putting up another trap.  
>"Meitantei-san!" the thief turned around with a grin and then glanced down the corridor, "oh? It's only you?" Kaito laughed and winked as he made a run for it; he always loved being chased by the detective, and throwing an eye behind him confirmed that Shinichi was following.<p>

By being too obsessed with the detective Kaito accidently end up in a corridor with the only option of entering different rooms to get away. As he closed the door he heard the loud bang of a ball hitting the wall at the end of the hallway and then realised that he was trapped, if he didn't break a window and jump out.

"So, KID, are we a bit off our game?" Shinichi asked when he entered the dark room and closed the door, barely discerning the thief standing with his back to him, "you passed the door to the stairs and went in here instead, what's that about?"  
>"Oh, I became distracted," the white-clad teenager chuckled as he gracefully turned around and smirked at his boyfriend, "who wouldn't? When they have someone as <em>hot<em> as you following them?"

"KID," Shinichi hissed and threw a glance around the office, looking for cameras but found none, "try to act professional! You never know who listens!"  
>"Trust me when I say that I know that we're alone," Kaito grinned as he walked up to the detective that blushed as the thief leaned forward and placed his forehead against his, "and even if there were any cameras in here they wouldn't be working."<p>

In the dark room only alit by the small amount of light that shone through the blinds in the three windows Kaito knew that no one could see them clearly and therefore closed the small distance between their lips, giving his lover the gentlest of kisses, that in return made Shinichi pull him closer, begging for more.

* * *

><p>Saguru grimaced as he pulled out his wounded arm from his suit and then placed it back in its sling before he took out a metallic bottle from the inner pocket of the jacket that now hung on the wall, looking lonely.<br>"Ya' really think this is tha correct time for a drink?" Hattori growled lowly from behind gritted teeth while Saguru ignored him as he walked up to the pile of hardened purple slime and turned to the dark-skinned detective before he made an big show out of pouring a bit of alcohol over the men. The hardened slime crackled a bit and the taskforce members threw themselves off of their boss that immediately roared in rage, only to see a white-clad thief and a glider through the window.

"After him!" the inspector called out and made a run out of the room, heading towards the elevator, "Hakuba, help the rest while I deal with KID!"  
>"Yea, yea," the blonde muttered silently, not bothering to tell Nakamori that he was chasing after a fake and sent a glance to the Osakan detective that glared at the window where the thief had last been seen.<p>

The blonde let the taskforce that was partially movement-impaired deal with the other teenage detective and then left to search for the Detective of the East. Having slowly made his way past all of the traps that were everywhere and helped the four taskforce members he was about to go up the stairs to examine the roof when a single light passed underneath a closed door a few rooms away. Highly suspicious that it was the thief that was trying to lure him to his doom he still sneaked closer in order to examine it. Standing just outside he could hear hushed voices talking urgently, only to be interrupted by a low thump of what could be a chair falling. Saguru raised his eyebrows and pulled out his small, but strong led-light before he opened the door and turned it on.

Shinichi gasped from the shock of suddenly standing in the strong light and panicked as he couldn't see who it was that held it. The person walked inside and closed the door before he sighed.  
>"Kuroba, don't think I'm an idiot; I can see you through the gap underneath the desk,"<br>"Hakuba?" Kaito grinned and got up while Shinichi relaxed in relief, knowing that the Brit had his own reasons for not wanting the thief in jail.  
>"You two are unbelievable," Hakuba muttered and shone the light from the thief without his white suit, hat, tie and with opened shirt to the detective with an equally debauched look with his ruffled hair, flushed face and shaky hands that were hastily closing the shirt, "I have to presume that you're the mystery girlfriend, Kudou."<br>"He's the mystery girlfriend," the detective muttered back and sighed, "but yea, that's the idea. It's just a precaution that has to be there once our relationship makes it to the media."

"And you thought that _here_ was a good place to indulge in your detective-thief-fantasies?" Hakuba questioned and smirked as a brighter blush made its way to Shinichi's cheeks.  
>"Hattori," Kaito growled with a sour look, "he's staying at Shinichi's house and has made it his personal mission to mess with me."<br>"I have no excuse for what happened here. I should've been able to control myself," Shinichi confessed and fixed his hair, "anyone could've walked in on us."  
>"Give me some credit," the thief complained amused as he leaned on the desk, "I was prepared to simply make both of us vanish if we had been exposed, but as of now, all you had to do was say that KID put you in a dress and that you were changing; everyone would've believed you. I wasn't actually prepared to have to hide afterwards, but I would've taken off my outfit and said that you found me inside the building and pulled me aside so that I wasn't wrongfully believed to be KID."<p>

"It wouldn't matter if they caught you red-handed; no one would believe that you're KID anyway, especially not after you'd used that silver tongue of yours to conjure up a lie," Hakuba commented with a snort, "how long has this been going on?"  
>"Since the last heist," Kaito smirked amused and got dressed as himself in a puff of smoke after finding his tie on the floor.<br>"And you didn't think that you could've informed me about that? So that I didn't have to worry about you getting yourself caught while stalking a detective?" Hakuba sighed and drew a hand through his hair. "But I do have one thing that I'd like to know," the blonde stated as he turned to Shinichi, "how did he manage to get you?"

"Oh," Shinichi blushed deeper, "I-, I've been in love with him for quite some time, and I've used the heists to get to know him better, while he apparently has been doing the same thing."  
>"Judging by how calm you are, Kudou, I have to assume that you knew that I'm not here to catch KID, so why didn't you tell me anything?"<br>"Well, it's a hard thing to say," Shinichi mused loudly, "how would I do that? _'Oh, and by the way, Hakuba, I've begun dating KID. He hasn't told me his name yet, but it seems to be going quite well. Any thoughts?'. _It's kind of hard to get that into a normal conversation without being completely random."  
>"I see your point," the blonde confessed seriously.<br>"We've only revealed all our secrets a week ago, and Kaito wanted to introduce me to you just to mess with you,"  
>"That doesn't surprise me at all," Hakuba snorted and sent a glare to the magician while Shinichi only followed his gaze.<p>

"Now if you excuse me I have to find Aoko out there," Kaito grinned and vanished in a cloud of smoke while both of the detectives stared unimpressed at where he'd been standing.  
>"You know what, Kudou, you two are impossible," the detective shook his head in amusement, "that thief will never ever be caught with you by his side, looking out for him."<p>

The way back was walked in an awkward silence that was only broken by the Brit's curious questions and Shinichi's blushing answers. It later showed that the Osakan detective was very hard to get off the wall and he grumbled in annoyance as he was forced to either borrow Hakuba's spare clothes or walk outside dressed in a French maid's outfit, while the wig refused to give in and stubbornly stayed on top of the teenager's head. And strangely enough, traps that hadn't been there before was triggered once Hattori walked near them, making him end up covered in everything between colourful feathers, glitter and slime.

* * *

><p>Kaito only smirked proudly once his boyfriend got home with the sour Osakan in the Brit's clothes that immediately went into the shower completely dressed and began to clean himself.<br>"Kaito, no more fighting," Shinichi hissed quietly outside the door to the bathroom, knowing that it was impossible to get out of a garment glued to one's body by oneself.  
>"Only if he stops," the thief smiled innocently with his arms behind his neck as he leaned on the wall and sent his boyfriend a glance.<br>"No, Kaito. Even if he continues; stop it! This has gone on long enough, and you took it too far. He was only teasing you, someway, without even acting differently towards me compared to when I was Conan, but you can't involve KID in this. Just ignore him," Shinichi smiled at the thief and then gave him one of Conan's cute expressions, "please."  
>"Okay, fine. I lose. You can be ridiculously adorable when you try, but no matter how cute you look I won't help him out of the glue, that would be too obvious if I magically had the solution to <em>KID's<em> magic tricks." Shinichi deadpanned, knowing that it was just to mess with Hattori further since the magician could easily say that KID was a good magician but he was better, and therefore had the solution.

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><p>Reader uses Review<br>-It's super effective!

Wild Author fainted


	58. In the Demonic Minions' clutch

A/N: Just for fun; let's update! *grin*

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness,<br>Next chapter might take a while longer

Uploaded: 2012-11-26  
>Revised: 2014-09-17<br>Chapter rating: T  
>Words: 4,900<p>

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><p><strong>Chap. 58<br>In the Demonic Minions' Clutch**

Ever since Hattori had left, Kaito had been begging Shinichi to help him train, and the detective wasn't opposed to that, but what he was opposed to was the fact that the thief wanted him to wear his outfit and that was something Shinichi refused to do; he would _not_ run around outside dressed as Kaitou KID. However, the magician had after only a little time found a way to manipulate his boyfriend to agree, by draining him of his ability to think and make him consent to anything and everything proposed by the magician, which was how he ended up running through alleyways following the other white-clad thief, trying to catch him without losing his hat or getting the mantle stuck to any surface; it was all repeating Haibara's training, but in snow and without an evil Syndicate member shooting rubber bullets at him.

Shinichi smirked as he caught up to the thief and tackled him to the ground in a burst of newly fallen snow, making the magician laugh breathlessly, but it was only the first time it had been simple for the detective to catch Kaito, since he after that had begun using his gadgets. Even though Shinichi used them too Kaito got away and vanished, and Shinichi blamed it on the fact that he had much less experience using them compared to the other teenager.

Somehow it ended up becoming a cat and mouse chase with an unclear predator as both of them were chasing the other, trying to get them in traps, but much to Shinichi's annoyance he was the one who ended up hanging upside-down from a tree in Beika park, happy that it had become so dark that he wouldn't be seen as long as no one walked into the forest. As he was done with surveying his surroundings he looked up to the tree only to find himself looking back at his happily grinning boyfriend.  
>"I thought that I was supposed to help you train," Shinichi muttered and made the magician's grin widen.<br>"You are!" he exclaimed happily, "you're faster than me, so I have to think more to get away, but you are also smart so I can't use the same trick twice, and you can see through my traps better than anyone!" The magician beamed happily, knowing that that reason was valid enough in the detective's eyes, it wasn't like he could actually say; 'one day in the future you and I are going to hold a heist together, won't that be fun?'

* * *

><p>Shinichi would never admit it, but during the weeks that the snow turned into a wet slush he had fun training the magician. Kaito had even taught him how to utilise the gadgets better than before so that it would become even harder for him to get away while he dyed Shinichi's outfit black so that he could hide in the shadows. It got so far that the detective even had to chase the thief through the air on his glider, but that was certainly nothing he complained about.<p>

What he didn't notice was how another detective became interested in Kaitou KID and even questioned him on how the heists went without him noticing. Hakuba was also found and interrogated, but while he was talked to outside of the gates of Ekoda High, a magician showed up in a puff of smoke and immediately gained the new detective's suspicion. She did background research on the magician and found the logical truth behind the mastermind Kaitou KID, just like Hakuba had done before he applied to Ekoda High. The facts didn't even make her hesitate; the boy was a thief after all, but even though he wasn't internationally active, her job was to catch criminals. The female detective observed the boy whenever she had the chance and as she found his weakness she began planning.

* * *

><p>Shinichi yawned contently and sniffled a bit as he watched the magician tuck him in a blanket on the couch before turning on the TV to let him watch a show with Hercule Poirot as he disappeared into the hallway. The detective had only been watching for a little while before Kaito came back to tuck pillows behind his back. Shinichi protested a bit, but quickly gave in when a cough fit interrupted his sentence, and before he knew it he'd been pushed back into the soft pillows, tucked in and kissed on the forehead.<br>"Rest a bit, Nichi. You need to get some sleep," Kaito whispered as he drew his hand through the detective's hair, "I know that you didn't sleep any last night."  
>"How would you know that? You weren't even here then..." Shinichi sighed and relaxed into the thief's touch.<br>"I know, because I'm awesome," Kaito grinned as he studied the detective's flushed cheeks and half-lidded eyes; if he didn't know that Shinichi was tired and having a fever he would've thought that he was ready for a moment of intimacy, "it doesn't take a genius to figure out that you've slept little to nothing with that kind of cough." The detective only hummed suspiciously, wondering if the magician had arrived the night before and stayed hidden until the middle of the day, but he decided that Kaito had no reason to hide from him; if Kaito had been there he'd forced him in bed and stayed beside him.

Kaito watched the detective's eyes in hope that he would fall asleep as he sat on the edge and continued caressing the soft hair. The eyes closed and then open a crack before they fluttered and became relaxed. Kaito grinned and continued to play with his boyfriend's hair, but his happiness over Shinichi's sleep didn't last long before the teenager sat up and coughed until all he could do was hold his hands around his aching throat.

"Here," Kaito murmured and picked up the detective's glass of water from the table, "drink a bit and see if it helps." Looking impossibly tired Shinichi took the offered glass and sipped it a bit, but only winced and gave it back.  
>"I can't," he croaked and had another coughing fit.<p>

"Hush, stay down and I'll get you something warm," Kaito smiled as Shinichi leaned back into the pillows, "I've got chicken soup on the stove." Shinichi nodded at the thought of something warm, even though the mention of food made his insides turn in protest.  
>'Pandora, how ill are we?'<br>_'The enemy has breached the inner walls and has infiltrated among our soldiers, using them as incubators to spawn more of them evil man-eaters. They are eating them from the inside,'_ Pandora stated seriously and Shinichi got an image of the jewel bending over a table with a map on top, pretending that it was a battle field, making Shinichi grin amused.  
>'Seriously? What are you doing?'<br>_'That is what I'm doing,'_ Pandora chuckled, _'but in a funnier way of thinking about it. I'm using small amounts of power to scan the immune system for damaged white blood cells that contains virus. I mark them and makes healthy white blood cells attack the infected ones, destroying the viruses before they break free. We'll become healthier faster. I was thinking about comparing it to the old space hunter, but I forgot what kind of game that was...' _the gem contemplated for a while and Shinichi mentally shook his head.

When Kaito got back with the soup Shinichi sat up straighter and allowed the thief spoon-feed him without a fuss, too tired to bother caring about dignity. Shinichi winced as he swallowed the hot liquid, surprised and grateful that Kaito made sure to not get any chicken or potatoes on the spoon. For every swallowed spoonful Shinichi's throat hurt less, and before he knew it all of the soup, except the pieces of food, was gone. As the detective leaned back again he closed his eyes and surrendered into unconscious sleep, making the magician smile happily and pull the blanket a bit higher up.  
>"Stupid detective, diving after murderers in the ice-water," Kaito smirked and got up to bring the bowl to the kitchen, but stopped as the news began playing and he caught his own name and a picture of the thief from the TV. The teenager dove for the speaker, placing his ear against it so that he wouldn't miss anything they said without turning up the volume.<p>

"Suzuki Jirokichi has once again challenged Kaitou KID," the reporter stated with a smile, "the challenge is for Kaitou KID to steal the Cat's Eye tomorrow at eight in the evening. And from where? From the Suzuki estate, of all places, so the question is if the entire house isn't full of traps by now." The woman on the TV began informing about old heists that involved Jirokichi and made Kaito stop listening as he pulled out his phone and dialled a number.  
>"Jii-chan, have you heard that Jirokichi has issued a challenge to KID for tomorrow?" he stated as soon as the old man answered.<br>"No, I haven't heard. Is there anything you need?"  
>"Yea, I might need help tomorrow since the heist will be at their home, and could you prepare an escape route; Jirokichi might have placed particularly nasty traps in there, so if we could meet tomorrow at noon it would be great. I already have all my gadgets at Shinichi's house so you don't have to bring them to me."<br>"Okay, I'll have the earpiece so that as long as you have yours we'll be able to talk. See you tomorrow."  
>"Good. See ya'."<p>

Kaito was walking out through the living room entrance when the detective's sleep was interrupted by another cruel coughing fit, and he heard a quiet hiss of pain from the teenager as he fell back into the pillows. When the thief got back after picking up Shinichi's laptop he found that the detective had turned off the TV and was just staring up at the ceiling with an empty look.  
>"Nichi, how are you feeling?" Kaito cooed and sat down beside him with the computer in his lap.<br>'Not good,' the detective mouthed, 'I hate being this ill.'  
>"Do you want some tea or anything else? I've heard that tea with honey is good if your throat is hurting," Kaito smirked, but Shinichi only shook his head carefully, "I bet that Hakuba would know if that's true! How about anything else?"<br>'No thanks,' the detective mouthed with a smile and gently grabbed into Kaito's hand, watching the computer start up, 'you just being here with me is enough to make me feel better.' The thief grinned happily and began to stroke the detective's hair, making Shinichi relax and eventually fall asleep as Kaito began searching for information about the Suzuki residence and the Cat's Eye.

* * *

><p>When Shinichi woke up he was lying in his bed and he slowly closed his eyes to get more sleep, listening to the tapping of computer keys, knowing that it was his boyfriend and silently wondered what time it was as he drifted off once more.<p>

* * *

><p>Kaito yawned and made himself breakfast, happy that he'd memorised the layout of the house, hoping that it hadn't been altered too much, but as he sat by the table alone his phone suddenly rang.<p>

"Kuroba Kaito speaking," he answered.  
>"Good morning Kaito-kun," Nakamori Ginzo grumbled in annoyance, "I take it that you've heard about the challenge to Kaitou KID from Suzuki?"<br>"Of course, nothing KID-related gets past me," Kaito laughed and then realised that it wasn't quite true, "or almost nothing."  
>"That old man won't let us in yet, saying that he doesn't trust us, but he wants you to help him check the traps as you sometimes do," the man sighed, "and if you could convince him to let us in I'd owe you one."<br>"Naw, but KID's a fellow magician," Kaito groaned in the phone, happy that he'd gotten a way in and a way to disappear at the same time, "but if I might be able to meet KID I'm not saying no!"  
>"Thank you," Nakamori sighed, "and you really need to find a new idol. Thieves are not a pack of people you want to look up to."<br>"No, not thieves in general, only Kaitou KID," Kaito grinned, "you can't deny that a non-violent thief that uses magic to steal and returns what he steals is far better than one that does everything to keep his loot." Only a small mumble was heard in the phone as Nakamori complained about insane KID-fans.  
>"Okay, yes, it is better, and God help me if that thief heard me say that," the inspector sighed heavily.<br>"Oi, Nakamori, is something wrong?" Kaito frowned, realising that the man wasn't on his usual 'Catch Kaitou KID fire'.

"What's your opinion of Hakuba?" Nakamori asked after a while on thought.  
>"As a boyfriend for Aoko, and not as a detective, I'm guessing," Kaito asked as he finished his breakfast.<br>"Yes, exactly. He's a good boy, isn't he?" the man hesitated, "I'm not sure if I should chase him away or not. Aoko is still so young, I'm afraid that he'll just hurt her."  
>"Oh? But Aoko is almost an adult," Kaito laughed, "Hakuba would never. If you want her to have a boyfriend who respects her and is careful; he's the one. I've already told him that I'll give him hell if he hurts her."<br>"Hmm, I kind of always thought that you two would end up together," Nakamori confessed.  
>"Well, there's a problem with that; I have a boyfriend."<br>"You ha-, _what?_" the inspector asked shocked and Kaito grinned as the stammering of the man he'd come to view as a father figure.  
>"Yes, Nakamori, I have a boyfriend. I actually met him on a heist. Aoko introduced us, and I promise that he's not a thief," Kaito laughed, "actually his name is Kudou Shinichi. I believe you've met!"<br>"You and that detective?" Nakamori gaped in shock, "I didn't know he was gay."  
>"He's bi, but that's just details. We've been dating for a while! But when do you want me to come to the heist?"<br>"Eh? The heist, right, the heist. Around six if that's okay?"  
>"Yea, sure, I'll be there! See ya'!" Kaito hung up and grinned, chuckling to himself and then watched how his boyfriend came dragging himself to the kitchen with a hand over his eyes to protect them from any light that was in the house.<br>"Morning," he muttered and turned off the light before he removed his hand and filled the water boiler. Kaito observed him stagger around the kitchen to get the painkillers as the water boiled. He made himself a cup of tea and then swallowed two of the pills before he sat down beside the table.

"Feeling any better?" the thief questioned and got a nod.  
>"Yes, but my head's still killing me," Shinichi mumbled quietly and watched his boyfriend get up and walk around the table until he stood behind him, massaging his shoulders.<br>"You're not going to get away with not eating anything," Kaito smirked and heard a small sigh escape the detective's lips as he moved his hands to the neck and then massaged his scalp.

* * *

><p>Shinichi ended up sleeping on the couch in the living room most of the day with only a few moments of consciousness. Kaito smiled as his boyfriend as he left the teenager and went to the heist, leaving a note on the table and the TV on in case he woke up and wanted to watch something.<p>

* * *

><p>Kaito slowly made his way through the crowds and then waved to the inspector by the gates to the Suzuki residence, watching them open and then made his way inside. Nakamori pulled in his cheek and then greeted him with a pat on his shoulder after he'd made sure that it wasn't KID in disguise.<p>

"You must be Kuroba-kun," Jirokichi smiled, "it's a pleasure to meet you."  
>"Yes, I am, and anyone would recognise you as Suzuki Jirokichi; you're very famous. So, what kind of traps did you want me to look at?" Kaito smiled and touched the earpiece inside his sleeve, making sure that it was there as the old man showed him around and explained the traps in detail. Kaito became uncertain about the whole heist as the traps were shown to him, realising that the man had thought of almost everything. The thief listened to every word, pointing out ways to get in or destroy the trap as long as there were multiple. He arranged the information in his head, understanding that getting in was simple while getting out was hard, but now that Jii heard everything he knew that he had help.<p>

"Least, but not last is the thing that holds the Cat's Eye. The entire room is a trap! I haven't actually seen it yet, but she wanted to show it to you before the thief is caught," Jirokichi chuckled.  
>"So you created these traps yourself, or did someone else do it for you?"<br>"I designed some and she designed others, but it's the last one that she assures me will catch KID; she hasn't shown it to anyone so he won't know what hit him."  
>"Then why are you showing it to me?" Kaito asked stunned, "what if I'm KID in disguise?" The teenager immediately regretted the statement as the man turned around and pinched him hard.<br>"Because of that; you can't be KID in disguise, and you are at the same time too young to be him."  
>"Ooh, I see," Kaito smiled and was then brought to a room.<p>

Jirokichi placed his hand on what appeared to be a scanner beside the door and Kaito watched it open, silently questioning his instincts that told him that he'd been found out and should run away as he watched a smaller room with a simple wooden door.  
>"Go ahead. I can't go with you, I've got to get to the surveillance room; it's only thirty minutes left until KID's caught," the man stated with a chuckle and left. Kaito stepped inside and the door closed, leaving him in complete darkness so he pulled up his phone and saw that he had no signal as used it as a light source. Just before he got to the door it opened and someone shone a light in his face.<p>

"You must be Kuroba-kun," a cheerful voice stated, "I'm so happy that you could make it! I heard from Nakamori-keibu that you from time to time helps with the traps! Follow me!"  
>"Excuse me, but who are you?" Kaito asked as he followed the young woman who held the light to the floor and threw glances around himself. It was something wrong with the room; he could sense it. The light was reflected all around him as small, weak shines in the surfaces and the strange smell made the hair rise on his arms; he recognised it as something that was bad, but what was it? His mind was all but cooperating.<br>"Oh! I'm so sorry! I forgot to introduce me!" the detective squeaked and shone the light in his face again, making him hiss as she blinded him.  
>"Don't do that," he requested and she moved the light to the floor again.<br>"Oops, sorry. I'm Masumi Sera, a detective," the young woman chuckled a bit and Kaito frowned; he'd heard that name before. "Here it is!" she exclaimed and shone the light in the thief's eyes again before she turned the light towards what appeared to be a small pillar on which the Cat's Eye rested, but around it was a larger circle.

"Right! You're one of the detectives that goes to Teitan High! I've heard about you!" Kaito grinned, realising that she was the detective that went to Shinichi's class and had been having some friendly competition with him.  
>"Correct!" she smiled and shone the light on the yellow jewel.<br>"Wow, it's beautiful!" Kaito gasped as he saw the pear shaped diamond clearly.  
>"It was found in South Africa a year ago. It's one of the largest jewels in the world, and that was why Suzuki-ojichan bought it and kept it hidden; to lure KID into a trap once he had the perfect trap set up. Go ahead. Try to steal it and I'll show you what I mean."<br>"Oh, okay," Kaito stated and reached for the jewel, only to stop; every instinct he had told him to run and he was wondering why, "is it really okay to try?"  
>"Yea, sure, I've deactivated the alarm, but the trap will still activate. Tell me what you think after you've tried."<p>

Kaito glared at the jewel and then reached for it. He twitched as thick metal closed around his wrist and on instinct he moved the other hand to it to get loose, but was then caught with both wrists. The woman smiled as his wrists were pulled down to the metal circle and pulled apart, making him unable to reach the lock with his hands and his mouth.  
>"A good trap for a magician, right?" Sera smirked gleefully, "try to get out of it."<p>

"I can't," Kaito admitted with a smile after a while, "it's a very good trap for KID, assuming that he's not coming from above or from below."  
>"But why would he come from above when he's pretending to be an innocent teenage boy?"<br>"What?" Kaito asked in shock, "me? You think that I'm a thief?"  
>"Who else could it be?"<br>"I'm _not_ KID!"  
>"Oh, but you are; the most clever disguise is no disguise at all. Just the fact that you <em>can't possibly <em>be KID because of your age is your disguise."  
>"But I'm not KID!" Kaito muttered and rolled his eyes, "I have more than two alibis! One was when I was at the amusement park with Aoko, Nakamori-keibu's daughter, the second time I was handcuffed to Hakuba! And on multiple occasions I've been in the crowd during KID's heist! How can you still think that I'm KID?"<p>

"Jirokichi, you can open the door and get everyone in here," the young woman stated with a smile and then turned off the flashlight only for the entire room to become lit up. The light blinded him at first, but as he could see he realised why he associated the strange smell with unimaginable horror and he screamed as he pulled in his restraints; he was surrounded by that appeared to be a huge aquarium where evil-eyed sea monsters laughed at his pain.  
>"Man up, Kuroba, it's just a few fishies," Sera snorted and watched the teenager fall to his knees and keep his gaze to the floor, trembling furiously.<p>

"Who screamed?" Nakamori called out and burst through the door, his gaze immediately landing on the teenage boy and saw the room. "What the hell are you doing?!" he roared enraged by the sight of the shivering teenager, whose life seemed drained from him and ran up to the boy he'd come to view as his son, "let him go!"  
>"Can't do that, Nakanori-keibu," Sera stated while sending the entering group a smile, "since he's actually Kaitou KID."<br>"Kuroba," Hakuba paled as he placed a hand on the teenager's shoulder, hoping that the other detective that he had no idea was on the scene didn't have any evidence, "how are you feeling?" Kaito didn't answer and didn't even seem to hear him at all.

"That's absurd!" Jirokichi called out, "you told me that you could catch KID, and all you did was trap some boy! What's wrong with him anyway?"  
>"He has ichthyophobia, meaning that he's afraid of fish," Sera explained plainly and watched the scowl on the man's face, "but why am I so certain that he's KID?" the woman smiled, "to put it simply; his father was the original Kaitou KID. KID disappeared when he died. Kudou Shinichi solved his murder when he brought down the daughter organisation to the Black Organisation. I believe that Kuroba figured out that his father was murdered a few years ago and took up the roll as Phantom Thief to learn more about it. During the take down of the BO, KID went after a man called Snake. A man that identified Kaitou KID as Kuroba Kaito, stating that he thought that it was Kuroba Toichi that he'd been trying to kill all this time in interrogation. However, KID pulled a quick lie when faced with the police, telling them at the scene that he was a fan of Kuroba Toichi and that he stopped for eight years because of guilt, but started again for the same reason. When Kuroba Kaito then was interrogated he continued on the lie, stating that he had made a bet with Nakamori-keibu's daughter that he was going to catch KID because he insulted magic by using it to steal. He then stated that he'd cornered KID on the roof and was told the truth about his father's murder, after which he became a fan of the thief. Hakuba got a hair from KID that identified him as Japanese, blood type; B, around 15-17 years, 174 cm height and perfect eyesight. There are even more markers according to the file Hakuba compiled on the thief before he deemed that angle as a dead-end, all perfect descriptions for Kuroba."<p>

"But that hair that I got could've come from anywhere," Hakuba asserted in a clam voice despite his heart beating in panic as he kept a reassuring hand on his friend's shoulder while listening to Nakamori mumble to the unresponsive thief, "I go to school with him, so it's quite possible that the hair I got _was_ from Kuroba and not KID."  
>"Why are you defending him?" Sera raised an eyebrow at the blonde.<br>"I'm not, I'm only stating facts that every detective should take in consideration, even you," Hakuba kept his voice calm and gripped a bit harder into the thief's shoulder, afraid that he was going to get sent to prison. Maybe they could share a cell if he pleaded to his father? His father did owe him a few things, and he had connections everywhere. Hakuba would rather share cell with Kaitou KID than with a murderer he'd put away.  
>"Odd, did he get to you somehow? Why did you give up this angle anyway?" Sera shook her head, "not that it matters, because we'll know the truth once KID doesn't show up. Only ten minutes left, do you have anything to say Kuroba? I bet that your sentence won't be as hard if you confess right now."<p>

"Release him!" Nakamori demanded, but the teenage detective only shook her head and made the inspector scowl as he held an arm around the boy in a protective embrace.  
>"It's okay, Kaito," he whispered with a small hush, "you're safe."<br>"Where's dad? I want my dad," Kaito winced and then continued to whisper the sentence over and over like a mantra, trapped in the memories of a childhood trauma.  
>"Hush, KID will be here and you'll be released," the inspector stroke the teenager's back and Hakuba frowned.<br>"I never actually asked, but why is Kuroba so afraid of fish?" the blonde asked lowly while sending a concerned look to his friend that was beginning to sound insane, watching how small drops of what he assumed to be tears fell from the teenager's hidden face to the floor.

"Aoko doesn't remember it, but when they were in preschool they went on a class trip to a large aquarium. Kaito wandered off as usual and Aoko followed him," Nakamori began explaining in a low voice, "they sneaked up so that they could see what the fish looked like from above, and you can probably guess where this is going. Aoko fell in and Kaito jumped after her, saving her, but after he pushed her up on the edge a fish ended up dragging him down. I don't know the exact details, but he almost died that day. The personnel got him up and revived him, while they called an ambulance, the Kurobas and me. I got there first since I was only a couple of blocks away and tried to comfort them both, but Kaito's father was abroad and they didn't manage to get in contact with his mother. This was what he kept repeating while crying..." Nakamori shook his head and glared up and the female detective, watching her count down in silence, "the fish in that tank weren't exactly friendly. He spent a week in hospital recovering from the wounds they had inflicted on him, mostly on his arms and legs. So let me ask you; who wouldn't be afraid of fish after they'd started to eat you alive while you were drowning?" Hakuba swallowed and looked down to the trembling magician, understanding what kind of hell he must be going through.

"Time," the female detective stated and everyone looked around, expecting the thief to show up in a puff of smoke, but no one came, and Hakuba kept his gaze to his friend, not wanting to see the triumphant smirk that Sera ought to be having, heck, she'd just caught the most famous thief the world had ever seen; who wouldn't be smiling?

* * *

><p>AN: I haven't seen/read much about Sera, but I don't like her for some reason, which might be obvious by the way I'm writing about her. XD  
>Therefore I beg pardon from any Sera-fan out there that knows her personality<p> 


	59. The Corrupted Detective

A/N: I think I remembered to put everything in this chapter that was supposed to be here...  
>You wanted more? -Be careful what you wish for.<p>

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness,<p>

Uploaded: 2012-12-02  
>Revised: 2014-09-17<br>Chapter rating: T  
>Words: 4,800<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Chap. 59<br>The Corrupted Detective**

A light flashed and Shinichi woke up only to glare at the TV, absentmindedly wondering where his boyfriend was since the computer was still on. He yawned and tried to go back to sleep, keeping his back to the obnoxious light from the TV, but was unable to. The detective turned around and reached for the remote when he saw what kind of program was on, seeing a familiar counter in the upper right corner, showing that it was thirty minutes left until Kaitou KID would show up.  
>'There's a heist?' the thought and raised an eyebrow.<br>_'Yea, they said it yesterday, but I think you were sleeping. Jirokichi challenged KID again, and the heist is in their own house.'_  
>'Great,' the detective muttered, 'Sonoko's dream scenario...'<br>_'Haha, I feel sorry for Kaito if he meets her. Turn up the sound.'_ Shinichi did as the gem requested, listening to the reporter's theories of which way the thief would arrive and escape, until the man froze with a hand to his earpiece.

"Ladies and gentlemen, people all over, today we might get to see the face of Kaitou KID. A secret source within says that they have caught a suspect. Today might be a sorrowful day; the day when Kaitou KID was caught," the man looked to the huge mansion and Shinichi stared frozen at the picture seeing the numbers tell him that it wasn't much time left, "in less than ten minutes we'll know if it really was Kaitou KID that was caught. In eight minutes to be exact."

Shinichi flew up from the couch and stumbled a bit from the dizziness.  
>'What to do?' Shinichi thought and leaned against the wall, trying to get the world to stop spinning, 'I know the layout, I need to get the outfit, call Jii; Kaito would never do a heist like this alone. Car, I need the car keys, and I can't dress completely as Kaitou KID in case someone sees me in the car.' The detective's thoughts continued spinning as he made his way up to his room and opened a secret compartment in the wall, happily realising that Kaito had two outfits for him; one black and one white. He pulled on the white one and looked himself in the mirror before leaving, checking so that everything looked as it should. The detective ran down the stairs in a haste, making his way down to the basement and then through the secret passage and ran up the stairs as silently as he could, aware that the professor might have guests. He opened the door and closed his eyes, watching the room that he couldn't see into form in red from the sound of the TV.<br>"Haibara," Shinichi called out, seeing the red shape on the couch move, "are you alone?"  
>"Yes, Kudou-kun," the girl answered and watched how a perfect replica of Kaitou KID appeared, "going to assist your boyfriend?"<br>"Yes, do you know it Agasa-hakase has any antipyretic somewhere? Or do you have any miracle drug?"

"No miracle drug, but I can kill you. Hakase has some antipyretic in the kitchen cupboard to the right above the stove." Shinichi ran into the kitchen and measured the fluid before he took a bit more than what the prescription said and then ran out of the room, knowing that it wouldn't do him any good if he fainted.

"You've got one minute left," the little girl stated and turned to him, "drive to the Beika shopping mall, use the grappling hook to get to the top and fly. You'll earn five minutes, but you're still going to be very late. I know that Kuroba has made you a black glider. Hide the white suit and use that one to fly."

Shinichi nodded quickly and ran back to his own house, pulling up his own phone as he got a message, hoping that it was Kaito, but saw that it was from Hakuba. He opened the message and saw a picture of Sera Masumi with what appeared to be a gigantic aquarium that reached up to half of the wall behind her. His phone buzzed again and he received another picture, but this time it was something that made his inside go ice cold only to be replaced by a flare of rage. The picture showed that Kaito was chained in the middle of the room. He was hanging as far as he could towards the floor with Nakamori trying to comfort him and Shinichi realised that there wouldn't be a picture more disturbing to him; Sera Masumi was torturing the love of his life. The logical part of his mind told him that it probably was unintentional and that she hadn't thought her idea through, but his heart didn't want to hear that; all he could see was a scared Kaito, reliving the memories of dying over and over again. As he got the black mantle and covered the white suit with a black coat he dialled the number he'd been taught and then listened to the old man answering.

"Jii, have you heard on the news that Kaitou KID got caught?" Shinichi asked running through the house and heard the old man sigh.  
>"Yes, have you told that to Kaito? He'll be heartbroken," the man answered cryptically, in case someone was listening in.<br>"No, I haven't spoken with him, have you?"  
>"No, not since four. I think that he must've dropped his phone or run out of batteries," the man stated concerned.<br>"That's not good," Shinichi commented as he started the car, knowing that the man meant that Kaito was somehow out of contact, and placed the hat and monocle on the seat beside him, "I'm on 346,72 if you want to speak." The detective stated and closed the phone as he drove out of the garage, hearing Jii's voice through the earpiece after he'd changed the frequency and stepped on the gas, speeding away.

Shinichi did as he'd been told and drove to the Beika shopping mall, driving the car into the alley and then got out, still talking to Jii about the different traps and escape routes and it wasn't until he checked the time on the mobile that he realised that Hakuba had sent him another message. He made his way to the fire escape and shot the grappling hook as far up as it reached and then realised that the thing Hakuba had sent him was a video, so he played it as he was pulled upwards. He raised the volume as he watched the video of what the room looked like while listening to a detective that he wouldn't mind kicking a baseball at.

"So, tell me; where is KID, if not in front of us?" Sera's voice asked smugly, "first I'll destroy his previous two alibis, and ignore all of those that only consist of him being seen in the crowds. The crowd tick is too easy to even bother with. The first real alibi; his date with Nakamori-san. When I asked her about it; she told me that she was watching a movie with Kuroba during the heist. I checked the times and he could easily have made it back and forth, stealing the crown while Nakamori-san sat by herself. Simply having his assistant drive him a bit faster than the speed limit would do the trick, not to mention that it is well know that Kaitou KID has used helicopters before to create his tricks. Assuming that he used a helicopter makes the trick child's play." Shinichi took the mobile in his mouth and held into the balustrade as he removed the grappling hook and shot it all the way to the top. "The second alibi was easily created with the help of his assistant; need I say more. All and any alibi Kuroba has are invalid since he has an assistant; KID is the only person that can actually be at two places at the same time."  
>"KID!" Nakamori roared up towards the ceiling, "where the hell are you, you damn thief? You can't disappoint <em>now<em>, not when Kaito needs you! You, damn thief!"

"Stop it Nakamori, KID won't show since he's right in front of you. Kuroba, are you ready to confess?"  
>"I'm not KID!" the teenager called out to the floor and winced just as the video ended with a picture of Hakuba's watch, telling Shinichi that it was what happened ten minutes ago.<br>_'I think I got a way to make us somewhat healthy, not completely well, but better than now, but it comes at a cost, like everything,'_ Pandora's voice stated in his head and made the detective blink.  
>'Name the price,'<br>_'Ten years more added to our 'curse', and a much longer cold, as in a very long cold,'_ the gem continued seriously and Shinichi nodded, _'assuming no hospital visits.'_  
>'Do it, whatever you're about to do,'<br>_'It will be painful,'_ Pandora commented gravely, already knowing Shinichi's answer, _'prepare yourself, don't let go of the grappling hook.'_  
>'Let me worry about that, just do it,' Shinichi demanded and felt how a burning sensation grew in his body, spreading from his chest. First he only felt warm, but the warmth continued to rise, scorching him from the inside. He gritted his teeth, only concentrating on keeping his eyes on the oncoming goal as his eyes blurred with tears from the pain, suddenly realising that the gloves were glowing in red. The detective got up to the roof and pulled off the gloves seeing his skin glow in red wherever his veins ran.<p>

'_Sir General, most of the enemy has been eradicated but I'm afraid that many of your brave soldiers died in friendly fire. This battle is won, but the war will be a lot tougher from now on. I suggest a quick attack and then retreat to base as quickly as possible, to avoid getting deathly ill,'_ Pandora informed while Shinichi saw his skin turn to normal colour and jumped off the roof, flying towards the Suzuki residence.  
>'As expected Commander; you did a good job, and why do I suddenly feel so good? Better than fine, better than well!'<p>

'_That's the power remnants; I remember that I should never allow you to use the energy I have since it might destroy the very essence of who you are. That knowledge is rooted into the very core of me, so I guess that I've handed power to one of my previous hosts and made him go insane; it feels right when I'm guessing,'_ the jewel mused and watched them soar through the air, _'arrival in eight minutes, sir! Estimated time of arrival is twenty hundred hours and twenty-one minutes. Late-ness is roughly calculated to become around thirty minutes in total, and the hostage might have succumbed to the terrorist's torture by then, but the hostage is strong and allied with a fellow soldier.'_ Pandora smirked while Shinichi concentrated on scanning the sky for helicopters.  
>'You do know that you're insane, don't you?'<p>

'_Hah! Like I am... The voice outside my head is insulting me... What rank should Hakuba be?' _Pandora mulled it over for a few minutes in silence, _'he's not allowed to be higher than me, so how about; Captain? Captain Hakuba!... I like that; and from time to time he can be a pirate.'_ Pandora grinned as he felt Shinichi's amusement at the thought of the blonde detective with an eye patch, black hat, a wooden leg and Watson on his shoulder. The gem stayed quiet after that, knowing that Shinichi needed to concentrate while he flew in a circle over the large mansion and then suddenly realised what he was about to do; break in.

With a surreal feeling Shinichi landed on the roof and then rappelled down the side, finding an air vent and entered it. The detective made his way through the house, knowing which room it was due to the fact that Sonoko loved showing off the house and he had recognised the lamps in it. Without trouble he made his way to the room and then opened the air vent as silently as possible seeing Sera rant on and on about how her research only showed that only Kaito could be KID, but the inspector still sat on his knees beside the magician, ignoring the young woman's statements and only cared about the teenager.

"How long are we going to wait until you're convinced that Kuroba Kaito is KID?" Sera asked the inspector while Hakuba pulled up his pocket watch with a worried frown.  
>"Until that bloody thief shows up!" Nakamori got up and yelled back, "you have no evidence! You can't keep doing this! Release him now!"<br>"That thief won't show!" Sera turned around with a huff and walked over to a tank as Shinichi lowered himself down with the help of the grappling hook.  
>"The evidence remains circumstantial," Hakuba stated and held up his watch in front of his eyes, wanting it to move faster and saw something white flash behind them all. As he turned to throw a look around the room he pretended that he didn't see the thief that came down from the ceiling like a spider in a thread, "and it could theoretically have been a fan that sent the reply that arrived, and KID might not be aware of the heist. He might even be abroad."<p>

"Search his house and I know that you will find evidence of him being KID," the detective smiled, and threw a glance to her own watch, seeing that thirty minutes had gone by, "are you ready to confess now, Kuroba?"  
>"Just wait until KID shows up!" Nakamori called up, "that damn thief will show!"<br>"You sound desperate, Nakamori-keibu. You don't want to face the truth that KID was your old friend, and now his son. That Kaitou KID was a friend of your family, and betrayed your trust for him. But believe me; he won't show, no matter how long we stay here," Sera exclaimed loudly as she looked to the colourful fish in the tank before her.

"I too believe so; he won't show," a calm voice stated behind them all and made everyone turn around in shock as no one from the taskforce had dared to even think the thought, while Kaito reacted with a shiver, knowing who that voice belonged to and heard the anger in it; delicate and dangerous at the same time, hiding the pure rage that was fully visible in the detective-now-thief's visible eye, "I'm talking about the impostor that sent the response, but I don't think you were."

Sera gaped in shock, seeing similarities with the chained teenager before the hat was tilted down.  
>"Get him! Someone get him!" she called out, but no one moved, and only stared at the thief in hesitation; KID wasn't smiling, he was all but smiling. KID always smiled, and now he wasn't, and it freaked the taskforce out. The thief was someone who always smiled childishly and laughed happily, he wasn't someone who carried a stern look and a tense pose.<br>"You all know my rules, don't you? It's not hard to remember," the thief stated with an uncharacteristically cold voice, ending the sentence like he wanted someone to finish it.  
>"Only one rule; no one gets hurt," Hiro whispered and sent a glance to the trembling teenager.<br>"Tell me, Hiro-kun," the voice of the thief warmed up a bit, "does that rule include 'torture allowed'?"  
>"No," the man whispered and Sera grew angry.<p>

"It's just fish! It's not like I'm cutting off his fingers or are electrocuting him!"  
>"Sera!" Shinichi called out, anger in his voice as he fixed the teenage detective with cold eyes, "do you lock claustrophobics in a small trunk saying that 'it's okay; you're not hurting them' or do you dangle people outside of buildings threatening to drop them, since it's just a small fall, nothing to be afraid of?"<br>"Of course not! But that's serious! This is just fish!"  
>"Look at him! Look at him and tell me that this isn't torture! I dare you to say that to my face again! Tell me that this isn't <em>exactly<em> the same as to lock a claustrophobic in a trunk! This is the exact same thing as holding a knife to someone's throat!" Shinichi walked up to the magician, tilting his head down to hide his face while everyone in the room stepped away, not really interested in knowing that a furious Kaitou KID would do if any one of them dared to step in his way.

"You're late!" Nakamori suddenly called out and gestured to the thief in anger, but still stepped back to let him release the boy.  
>"Of course I am! I had no idea that I was having a heist!" Shinichi growled lowly and was then interrupted by his cough, only to clear his throat and pick the lock in less than a second, immediately ending up with an armful of Kaito that buried his face in the thief's clothes, inhaling the scent of his boyfriend, "I was having a quiet weekend and the only reason that I even got here <em>today<em> is because a friend of my girlfriend called to tell her that they had caught KID, which made me really curious as to know who KID was this time, but then I find this! You, Nakamori-_keibu,_ are an officer of the law; you have the power to protect the innocent. _That_ is your job. I'm just a simple thief, one of the bad guys." The detective locked his gaze with the inspector, seeing that the man had become deeply hurt. Shinichi knew how close the inspector was to his boyfriend, and he didn't want him to feel too responsible for what had happened; it was all Sera, after all. "I trust you, Nakamori-keibu, as far as trust can possibly go between a thief and an officer. Don't let this happen again. If you're going to chain Magician-kun, do as Tantei-san and cuff him to yourself."

Smoke suddenly engulfed the white-clad thief and once it dissipated, the both of them were gone and only a single red rose was left as they had hidden in the air vent from which Shinichi came.  
>"Have you ever heard that Karma's a bitch?" a small speaker on the flower asked and everyone looked around, suddenly seeing sharp cards come out of nowhere and hit the fish tanks, making all of them splitter and creating a wave of fish-filled water.<p>

* * *

><p>"KID," Kaito whispered quietly as they got out of the air vent outside the room, "go out through the front door; I'll deactivate the traps before you get there."<br>"Thanks," Shinichi smiled and refrained from caressing his boyfriend's cheek, not wanting to wait to get back to his side, but forced his body to set off in a run, knowing that they both needed to keep up the act. He got to the door and pushed it open only to hear a familiar voice call out for him. He turned slightly to see Sonoko standing in the staircase dressed in a long white dress.  
>"KID-sama, will you be a gentleman and kiss the woman in this house?" the blonde asked with a flirty smile.<br>"Sadly not tonight, I must take my leave," Shinichi bowed and then walked out the door, tilting his head down so that the reporters beyond the gates wouldn't get a good picture of his face. He raised the Cat's Eye that Kaito had given him for them to see and then threw it somewhere into the darkness, not caring where it landed. He dropped a smoke bomb between himself and the reporters, pulling the black cover over himself and shot the grappling hook to the roof, ascending quickly. He dropped another smoke bomb, removed his cover and then threw himself off of the roof, flying away on the glider, looking as if he'd teleported into the air.

* * *

><p>Kaito sent him a message as he impatiently waited in the car, telling him that Nakamori was taking him to the police station to write a rapport on the detective's behaviour. Shinichi smiled and drove out from the alley without scratching the dark blue paint and drove to the station, arriving just as he began to feel weak again.<br>'Was that all the time I had?' Shinichi wondered as he walked into the station, greeting a man from the homicide department.  
><em>'We have little to no immune system right now, and we're walking around outside...'<em> the jewel sighed, _'Haibara's going to yell at me... If we don't die first...'_  
>'Kaito's safe; that's what matters,' the detective smiled as he got to the right floor, seeing a dry Hakuba drink a cup of tea, while a drenched Sera gestured wildly at him, speaking, but being ignored.<p>

"Hakuba!" Shinichi greeted happily and coughed, making the young woman tense as she recognised the voice and cough to the one she'd heard less than an hour ago.  
>"Oh, you're here. That's a surprise. Did he call you?"<br>"Yea, he sent a message to my phone."  
>"And you're okay? I heard that you took a dive in the bay," Hakuba joked, "I took a dive in a fish tank. Never go to a heist without a towel and pair of spare clothes; a great rule."<br>"Yea, it is," Shinichi smiled and mouthed 'sorry', but the Brit only waved a bit in the air, showing that he didn't actually care that he'd become wet. Sera turned around after trying to place the voice, knowing that she would now see the real face of KID, but gaped once she saw the Detective of the East smiling at her with cold eyes, clearly not happy.  
>"No," she whispered and then heard a loud squeak, seeing the magician run up to the detective and hug him, only to shove a paper in the her face.<p>

"Stay away from me, witch," the thief mumbled into the detective's shirt while Shinichi restrained a wish to cough, knowing that it would be bad if the taskforce heard him, "Nakamori made a few calls, yelling at some judge for ten minutes and then sent the paper by fax only to get it back signed; that man surely knows how to use his voice." Kaito smiled happily, looking into the detective's eyes. "I got a restraining order. Is something wrong, Nichi?"  
>"Don't know, how are you feeling?" Shinichi asked and watched the magician grimace.<br>"I'll be fine," he stated, "after a few weeks of nightmares."

"Thanks for the heads up, Hakuba," Shinichi smiled, knowing that Sera would understand, "you really are a true friend."  
>"What's wrong with you two?!" the female gaped and looked from the smug Brit to the famous Detective of the East, "you knew of their relationship!" She stared to the blonde that only continued drinking his tea with gleeful eyes, finally emptying his cup.<p>

"Yes, they've been dating for a while," the blonde smiled.  
>"That was why you walked out of the room twice! You sent a message to Kaitou KID's boyfriend; Kudou Shinichi!" Sera gaped while Shinichi frowned and looked to his boyfriend.<br>"Sera, where do you get your information? Some old gossip magazine that thought I was together with KID?"  
>"No, no! I looked up to you! How can you be together with a criminal?! No wonder you can't catch him! You're sleeping together!"<p>

"What are you saying, Sera?" Shinichi asked with a frown, waiting for the teenager to bury herself with the impossible truth.  
>"Kuroba was chained! Hakuba walked out of the room and sent a message to you, the boyfriend! You dressed up as Kaitou KID and then freed your boyfriend! That's why KID looked so much like Kuroba! Because you are practically identical! How can you be a thief and a detective at the same time?!"<p>

"Can you even hear yourself?" Shinichi asked with a hard voice and took a more protective grip into the real thief that naturally played the frightened victim.  
>"Did you just call me corrupt?" Hakuba asked with an irritated frown and stood up with his hands on the table, giving off an aggressive pose.<br>"But it's the truth!" Sera claimed making the taskforce hearing them deadpan, knowing that no matter how much people theorised on the subject of the Detective of the East being together with Kaitou KID they had never heard as wild ideas as currently spun from the young woman; conspiracies involving both detectives protecting Kaitou KID from her. Kaitou KID who was a boy that had visited them together with their boss' daughter. An innocent little boy, whose father had been murdered in cold blood in front of his eyes; Kuroba Kaito was one of them, ever since he was small, and now he was being attacked by what appeared to be a desperate lunatic.

"If you want to prove that you're not KID, then let the police search your home!" the young woman called out, ignoring the fact that the paper that the magician had showed her stated that she couldn't harass the thief about being KID.  
>"That's enough!" Shinichi stated, "you've done enough; why would he let you search his home, or why would I let you search mine! You hurt him, and this is a warning. Do it again and I won't let you off as easily. If I ever see you near him again I'll make sure that everyone knows everything about you. That includes your insane theories!"<br>"They are not insane if they are true!"  
>"Are they really true? Why would both Hakuba and I protect KID? Do you think that we're his secret lovers and that the girlfriend is a lie?"<br>"Oh, never say that sentence again!" Hakuba complained with a disturbed expression, looking as if he'd stepped in something disgusting, "what about me? Why am I protecting KID according to you?"

"You, you don't make sense; why are you protecting him?" Sera questioned confused, "you're the only thing that doesn't make sense..."  
>"Oh? I am? What about this?" the British detective cleared his throat, "you think that Kuroba is KID and that Kudou, his boyfriend, is also KID. What if I just became friends with them both and decided to protect them?"<br>"Yes, that makes sense!" Sera stated loudly, catching the glance the detective's shared and then realised what they were doing. "No! You told me the truth to make the theory sound less valid! As if you just made it up on the spot!"

"Believe me Sera, the theory sounds worse by the second even without our help," Shinichi stated with a sigh and left the scene with his boyfriend by his side. Kaito grinned back at the gaping female, drenched in devil's water, and stuck out his tongue at her.  
>"Stop being childish," Shinichi complained and Kaito pouted.<br>"She forced me into hell!"  
>"As you were, soldier," Shinichi smirked, seeing Kaito stick out his tongue again and heard Pandora laugh at his phrasing.<br>_'Operation 'Discredit' accomplished successfully, General, retreat to base. And prepare for crashing...' _

* * *

><p>Kaito slept tightly wrapped together with his boyfriend after stuffing himself full of chocolate, waking up every time Shinichi coughed but refused to sleep away from him in fear of nightmares. It wasn't until the morning that he realised that something was wrong with the detective as his boyfriend was barely breathing while he had a horrible fever. Not knowing what to do he called his mother and asked for advice, but when Kaito finally managed to take the temperature Chikage advised that he should bring him to the hospital, which was where Shinichi woke up a couple of days later.<p>

Still very ill he was kept in a sterile environment where his boyfriend was kept on the other side of a glass wall, communicating one-way as Kaito could read Shinichi's lips, while being forced to write answers on a paper. The thief managed to convince the nurses to put in a radio so that Shinichi could listen to it, and after a week he was moved to an ordinary room where Kaito spent all of his time, ignoring school and only tended to his boyfriend, keeping him company and forced him to eat a bit when the nurses brought him food.

* * *

><p>A blonde woman sighed while she smoked a cigarette indoors, sitting in the window of an abandoned apartment in the building across the road, a few floors higher up. She pulled up the scope from a sniper rifle, looking through it and located the two talking teenagers.<br>"Exhausted yourself again, Cool Guy?" she asked the empty room and stared curiously at them, "you seem to have found yourself the thief you wanted. A strange choice of partner from a detective, if you ask me, but you never were like all the others, were you? The question is; how close are you and Pandora? Are you ready for what is to come?" Vermouth crushed the cigarette against the windowsill.  
>'How long do I need to wait? Everything is prepared, but I've got no cheese in my mousetrap...' the woman thought as she smirked a cold smile, zooming in on the magician with wild, dark hair, "hello, gorgeous cheese, you must be an extraordinary detective-bait."<p>

* * *

><p>AN: Shinichi called Kaito 'Magician-san' when he was Kaitou KID during the takedown of the DO, so he used 'Magician-kun' now to -kind of- show that he isn't Shinichi.

And that, my fellow readers, is why I love Vermouth.


	60. School Trip

A/N: Distractions! Distractions everywhere! I can't even concentrate! I was writing on this when I suddenly jumped over to a crack-pairing fic. only to end up writing a chapter to a ConanKID fic and then another one for a KIDHaku fic. and then I wondered what I was doing... And then I got caught in writing cute scenes about Shinichi and Kaito ^^'' My mind is untamed and wild; will I ever control it?

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness,<p>

Uploaded: 2012-12-10  
>Revised: 2014-09-17<br>Chapter rating: T  
>Words: 4,400<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Chap. 60<br>School Trip**

"Come on!" Kaito called out in frustration, seeing the entire class hesitate on voting on which destination they would choose as a last class trip, "let's go skiing!" The magician smiled widely, knowing that his boyfriend's class had chosen to go to the mountains; so why shouldn't their class? There was only one small problem; he had to convince his class to do it, even after last year's fiasco.

"They have arcades, spas and hot springs, mixed and the not-so-fun separated ones," Kaito pouted at his classmates, seeing his teacher consider it and he didn't doubt that in her mind she was planning another weird competition.  
>"Last year's ski -costume- competition was horrible," a girl complained, "I don't want to repeat that." An agreeing mumble followed and Kaito glared at Hayashi, who just smiled dreamily at the board. "There will be no costume competition! <em>Mainly<em> because I object to it!" Kaito stated loudly and woke his teacher from her dreaming.  
>"What? Why?" she asked surprised, "you won last year. Wasn't that fun?"<br>"Winning, yes, but I object to the fact that a girl can't ski with another girl; the same goes for us guys," Kaito grinned while Hakuba sighed and leaned his head on his hand as he stared out the window on the wet spring day, observing the drops that competed down the glass of the window. He was already voting for the magician's choice of destination, knowing that he would get his way eventually, and knowing that the Detective of the East's class was going there at the same time.  
>"But that isn't romantic!" Hayashi complained with a small pout.<br>"Have you even considered that not everyone falls in love with the opposite gender? Won't those people feel left out?" Kaito asked seriously and held a sincere expression before he smirked, "there will be no weird competition."

"Why would we do what you want?" Aoko asked with a glare, "half of the class wants to go to somewhere warm."  
>"But, but," Kaito scratched his cheek, "I've heard that Kaitou KID's going to target an emerald there..." Hakuba deadpanned at the statement while the class erupted in an excited murmur.<br>"There's no way that you can know that!" Aoko roared, "not even dad has been able to predict Kaitou KID's movements!"  
>"I'm not the one who predicted it, Ahoko!" Kaito cleared his throat, "there's this guy on the magic lovers' forum, he's been speaking with Kaitou KID, and has told me where KID will strike the day <em>before<em> a heist note was delivered, and for a couple of weeks he's been right every time." Hakuba turned to the magician and gave him an unimpressed look, realising that the guy who was boasting to the magician about knowing Kaitou KID actually knew him, but not really the way he thought he did, if the guy on the magic lovers' forum even existed.

"BaKaito that's things you have to tell the police!" Aoko called out and threw her eraser at him.  
>"Never! KID's my hero!" Kaito stuck out his tongue and made a mop-chase break out in the classroom, hearing that his classmates finally had agreed to go to the mountains.<p>

* * *

><p>Shinichi wasn't the least surprised when a heist note arrived on the station, a note saying that Kaitou KID would strike in a town near a ski resort; the same resort that he was going to with his class, but it wasn't enough. The heist note was longer than usual, telling the police that the thief would spend a few days up there. Nakamori raged for an hour over the fact that Kaitou KID had the nerve to invite them 'for a few days of fun', placing a bunch of different times and competitions underneath each other so that anyone from the taskforce could challenge him. Shinichi noted a bit worriedly that Kaito had even placed skating as one of the sports on the note, even though the thief was hopeless at it, and Shinichi couldn't do it; he wasn't allowed to run for long periods of time since he hadn't fully recovered, which Pandora yelled at him every time he ran to a bus or a train. The gem had even threatened with making them faint if he didn't stop, and it wasn't until Pandora had stated that he was shortening their life by destroying their heart that he stopped running to places. Shinichi wasn't sure if the gem was serious or not, but since the cost was greater than the reward of being in time he'd been late quite often these past few weeks.<p>

Not being able to run also meant that he had to deal with the reporters more often. He'd been asked who his mystery boyfriend was after the news of his sexual orientation had somehow slipped out; Shinichi blamed Ryota and the man's big mouth, not that he voiced his suspicion. The theory that it was Kaitou KID got a new flare, especially since no one had ever 'seen' the boyfriend, not that Kaito didn't walk in and out the Kudou mansion through the front door, but everyone simply assumed that he was Kudou Shinichi. Kaito also enjoyed chasing reporters and paparazzis down if they ever got a picture of the two of them together, making the picture magically vanish, and leaving Kaito out of the media and making it seem as if the sexual orientation of Kudou Shinichi was another hoax created by desperate reporters.

* * *

><p>The detective yawned as he flipped a page in the book that he'd taken out of his bag that now lay abandoned at the end of his bed as he listened to the conversation of his three roommates while they discussed an upcoming game as they unpacked. A small rattling was heard from the door before it opened and a stranger ran into their room.<br>"There you are!" the teenager, looking a lot like the detective, exclaimed with a grin and got a raised eyebrow for an answer as Shinichi closed his book, "do you know how many rooms I had to go into in order to find you?"  
>"Did you just pick the lock on our door?" Shinichi asked and received questioning looks from his classmates, "don't do that. It'll become a bad habit if you continue." The teenager frowned as a thought came to him, "why didn't you just call me?"<br>"Your phone is off," Kaito muttered and rolled his eyes as the detective pulled up his phone and turned it on, "aren't you going to introduce me?"

"Yea, sure," Shinichi placed the book on his bed and sat up, "these are some of my classmates; Imada Arata. We used to play football together until he broke his leg in a car crash, nowadays he's a really intense gamer," Shinichi informed and pointed to a smiling and very skinny teenager with an easygoing look that was sitting on the bunk bed above him and Kaito absentmindedly wondered if he wouldn't break if he was ever tackled in a football game. "Then we have Kobi Eiji, also on the football team, almost as lousy as me in games," the detective grinned and nodded to a buff, square faced teenager with a crew-cut hairstyle that was sitting on his bed opposite to Shinichi.

"Oi! Just mentioning me and you in the same sentence involving games is an insult," Eiji complained with an amusement snort.  
>"Don't worry about him either, he looks like he's in a gang, but I promise you that you won't find anyone more caring," Shinichi grinned at the teenager, "he's just a large softy!"<br>"That sure sounds big coming from you," Arata laughed, "wasn't it you who almost panicked when that lost little girl started crying a week ago? You thought that her parents had been murdered somewhere!" Shinichi waved his hand dismissively and continued.  
>"And lastly we have the second ace in the football team, also an intense gamer; number nine, Sekine Raiden, the thunder kicker," Shinichi stated in a commentator's voice and gestured to a well built teenager with shoulder length, blonde-dyed, wavy hair that was sitting on the bed above Eiji and was waving to an imaginary audience.<br>"Eiji, Arata, Raiden, this is Kuroba Kaito-,"  
>"Magician Extraordinaire!" Kaito cut in and bowed.<br>",- an insane KID-fan that I had the unfortunate destiny to cross paths with, and my boyfriend."

The entire scene froze as he said the last word.  
>"Your <em>what<em>?" Raiden asked in surprise, "you're gay? But what about your wife?"  
>"Technically I'm bi, but whatever," Shinichi smiled and then frowned as he looked at his friends' shocked faces, "did I say something wrong?"<br>"No, you didn't," Arata laughed, being the only one who didn't care, "they just didn't expect that; he looks like he's your twin. They probably thought that there had been some kind of mix-up at the hospital when you were born!"

"So how long have you been gay?" Eiji asked perplexed.  
>"You're born that way, so always," Kaito grinned and sat down on a chair beside Shinichi's bed, sensing the heavy atmosphere.<br>"But, doesn't that mean that you gets turned on by men?" Raiden asked and quickly continued, "shouldn't you've been showering with girls or something?" Shinichi threw a glance at his boyfriend, blinking as he reflected on his friend's question.  
>"Now that I think about it; I don't get turned on by men in general," the detective frowned and sent a glance to Raiden, "rumour states that you're one of the hottest guys at school, but I'm not attracted to you." The teenager on the top bed opposite to Shinichi visibly relaxed, but then frowned.<br>"Not the least?" Raiden asked curiously and saw the detective shake his head, "that's relieving, and a bit insulting." Kaito squeaked and then grinned happily, getting everyone's attention.

"Shinichi, I just had the best idea ever," Kaito snickered, "but I need your help."  
>"I'm not agreeing to anything before you've told me what it is."<br>"We're going to go spy on girls!" the magician cackled evilly while Shinichi deadpanned, "and we could just kiss if someone's about to catch us!"  
>"You know, you're going to end up as an old perverted fool one day," Shinichi muttered as he was pulled up from the bed and then out of the room, "and you're going to drag me with you."<p>

* * *

><p>Shinichi was happy that they weren't caught, but as he got to the full restaurant and sat down by the table beside his roommates, he saw that every guy threw him a disbelieving glance while the girl's giggled and blushed.<br>"You told everyone?" Shinichi asked, not actually caring about what others thought of him; he'd been living with the gossip magazines for too long for others' theories and opinions to bother him.  
>"Sorry, I slipped up," Eiji confessed with a sigh, "but I didn't know that it was supposed to be a secret. I mean the newspapers have been having this theory out there for a while."<br>"It wasn't a secret, I'm just surprised that it took less than an hour to inform everyone."  
>"Something like that spreads like an uncontrollable wildfire," Arata smiled and shook his head, "you're the only one who isn't interested in hot gossip."<br>"I'm hot gossip?"  
>"Yes, you're famous, and then added to that is the revelation of your sexual orientation; of course you're hot gossip. If Raiden showed up with a boyfriend he'd be hot gossip too," Arata continued explaining and then grinned.<br>"You, Arata," Raiden muttered, "are a gossip queen. You know that, don't you?"  
>"Shut up, you news-deaf football-nerd," the teenager smirked back, "have you heard that Kaitou KID is going to strike in the town a few miles from here tomorrow night?"<p>

"News in general might not interest me much, but you have to be both deaf and blind to not know that. I mean I already know what the news are going to say; there's a war somewhere, lots of people died and there are people starving. I don't have money, I can't help in any way," the football player snorted and looked through the restaurant, seeing what appeared to be another school class assembling by a table, "is that your boyfriend?" The teenager narrowed his eyes at a teenager that was talking to some guys in his class and Shinichi sent a glance in the direction.  
>"Yea, that's his class; class 3B of Ekoda High. He goes to the same class as Hakuba Saguru, the detective," Shinichi informed and missed how many females looked over to the other class, trying to figure out who the detective had fallen for.<br>"Everyone knows who Hakuba Saguru is," Arata commented, "so you don't need to specify as long as it isn't 'Hakuba Saguru – the detective'."  
>"Okay," Shinichi said and then heard an angry shout from the table by the other wall.<p>

"BaKaito! You pervert!" Aoko roared and made the laughing magician flee as she sat off after him, running past the table with Teitan students before they vanished into the rest of the hotel. Shinichi's roommates turned to him with a raised eyebrow.  
>"You can't help who you fall in love with, can you?" Shinichi mumbled and drank from his water as everyone eyed him in confusion.<br>"Bah, you should dump him," Sonoko muttered a few seats away from him, "you two might look hot together, but I still can't stand him and his screwed up ideas of what's best for my KID-sama."

* * *

><p>It was later that evening that Shinichi found himself sitting atop the large hill inside the orange lighting from the huge floodlights with one of his feet unstrapped from his snowboard, resting by Pandora's order, when Kaito finally got to the top of the lift and saw him. The few people from his class that were going to compete down the slope had gathered in a clung and invited him, but he only shook his head and slid down to his boyfriend. Shinichi's eyes widened as he found his lap full of a Kaito that wrapped his arms around his neck and kissed him passionately. The detective sighed contently and pushed back into the kiss, unaware that a few girls from Ekoda High 3B gaped in shock as the trickster kissed someone who was obviously male. A guy sent a sharp elbow into his friend's side, making him stop explaining the rules and give a glare to the guy, only to follow the other's gaze.<br>"Is that Kaito?" he asked in shock and then saw that it didn't look as if the 'girl' had a chest, "is that a guy?"

"Aoko!" Keiko gasped and waved to her friend that was arriving by lift together with her boyfriend. The teenager in pigtails and pink glasses pointed to the two teenagers on one of the benches in full make out session not even breaking to get air. Aoko gaped as she recognised her childhood friend, but not the one he was kissing since Shinichi had a dark blue beanie and an unfamiliar jacket in the same colour. Saguru glanced over the group of guys that was going to compete after that Akako had decided to retreat to her room and then watched a girl take a picture while her friend talked on the phone, obviously about the revelation of the couple and he did not doubt that the news of Kuroba's boyfriend would take more than a day or two to travel to the ears of the entire school.

"You know," the magician grinned at his flushed boyfriend and kept their lips close to each other, "if you sit here and wait you'll going to get a nice view of the show." Shinichi studied his boyfriend's eyes and realised that there would probably be a seat somewhere during all the 'competitions' that had perfect view.  
>"That's actually why I chose this spot," he answered and took his boyfriend's hand, intertwining their fingers, "but I do have a question that's been bothering me. You know that I can't move around much, so how come that there will be a skate competition?"<br>"Everything is a magic show," Kaito grinned mischievously and sent a glance down the steep slope, "did I ever tell you how I won the legendary cue even though I can't play pool to save my life?" the magician winked and placed a gentle kiss on his boyfriend's lips. "Don't worry about me; I've got everything prepared, so what does Pandora say. Are you allowed to move yet? Want to compete down the slope?"  
><em>'Yea, sure, kick his ass,'<em> Pandora grinned and chuckled, _'and I know of a way we can make it up to him later.'_  
>"You're on," Shinichi grinned and made Kaito jump up, seeing some of his classmates stare at him as he put on his skis while Shinichi strapped his free foot to the board. The magician waved to the others and then followed his boyfriend, leaving the shocked people behind.<p>

* * *

><p>Shinichi found himself watching what could only be the funniest ski competition in history that begun when every single light turned off, leaving the slope in complete darkness for a second before a blue light from the sky illuminated a single person dressed in white. Kaitou KID threw his arms out and made fireworks explode in the sky, grinning like there was no tomorrow.<br>"Ladies and Gentlemen!" he called out with a joyous laugh, "can my dear taskforce catch me the day before the heist, or will they allow me to steal my next target?"  
>"KID!" the thief's fans called out in a loud squeal, and the detective was happy that Nakamori had decided to keep the challenges a secret, otherwise Shinichi doubted that he'd seen anything at all. Nakamori's orders to his officers were drowned in the fans shouting as Kaito performed a bit of magic for them and Shinichi smiled as he watched the white-clad teenager set off down the slope, passing a few officers before he made a jump, spinning around in the air before he made a perfect landing. KID vanished out of sight, followed by Hakuba and the taskforce and Shinichi sighed as what appeared to be a large explosion was heard in which he assumed that the thief vanished. Someone suddenly sat down beside him and Shinichi turned his face to see who, only to meet Aoko's suspicious gaze as she glared at him.<p>

"Shinichi-kun?" she gasped in shock and lost all hostility towards him.  
>"Aoko-san?" Shinichi continued as the young woman kept staring at him. At the mention of her name Aoko leaned forward and then pulled hard in his cheek.<br>"It really is you?" she continued as the detective rubbed his cheek.  
>"What was that for?" he grumbled annoyed.<br>"Well," Aoko seemed a bit nervous before she began explaining, "I saw you and Kaito kiss, and he once joked that he'd fallen for Kaitou KID, and since you were a guy and he'd joked about that I just had to be certain that you weren't KID. You never know when Kaito says something as a joke only for it to actually be true, and Kaito knew where KID would strike before a heist note had even arrived."

"Oh?" Shinichi chuckled a bit, "but KID just went down the slope, followed by the taskforce."  
>"It was possible that the KID that performed was his assistant and that the real Kaitou KID sat up here watching over him in case anything happened," Aoko shrugged, not knowing how close to the truth she actually was, and made the detective grin.<br>"Are you planning to be any kind of an investigator? That deduction was pretty good, even though it was wrong," Shinichi confessed and made the young woman shake her head with a smile.  
>"No, I'm not going to become that. Saguru is a detective and I worry about him, just like I worry about dad, not all criminals are as non-violent as Kaitou KID after all. And if Saguru and I actually gets married and have children I don't want them to worry about both of their parents going out through the door to never return," Aoko smiled a bit and Shinichi nodded, "but my question for you is; how serious are you about Kaito?"<br>"As serious as I could ever be. I can't see myself living without him," Shinichi smiled, but Aoko looked strangely conflicted by his confession.  
>"Are you aware that he's still spying on girls and flipping skirts?" she asked with a small frown, studying the detective's face, but Shinichi only sent her a smile.<br>"Yes, but he does it to tease others, not to cheat on me. Don't worry about me, I know how serious he is about me," he smiled at her, seeing Kaito come up the lift and waved to him.

* * *

><p>That evening Shinichi stumbled into his room and sat down on his bed, narrowly avoiding hitting his head in the wood to the bed above. Raiden eyed him puzzled as he redirected his attention from the laptop to the detective, seeing Shinichi change his shirt to his pyjama with a yawn.<br>"Are you going to bed now?" the thunder kicker asked as he glanced to his watch and pulled off the headset, checking so that the game was still loading, "it's only eight."  
>"Yea, I'm still ill," Shinichi grumbled and crawled into the unpleasantly cold bed, "you know that I was kept in a glass prison at the hospital. I've been going to bed between six and eight ever since, always exhausted."<br>"Oh, sleep tight then and tell us to shut up if we wake you," the teenager put on his headset again and Arata peeked curiously at the detective from the bed above.  
>"Good night," the skinny youth grinned and heard his friend mumble a bit.<p>

Shinichi was drifting close to sleep when a familiar rattling was heard from the door as the lock was picked, but the detective's tired brain didn't register it until someone joined him in his bed.  
>"Kai," he sighed as he recognised the scent of his lover and felt arms wrap around him, pulling him close to a warm body, "what are you doing?"<br>"Two of my roommates went into town to drink or something, and Aoko decided to drop by for a make out session with Hakuba; a thing that I'm not interested in watching, so I came here," Kaito explained and dug his nose into the detective's hair.

"Touch me inappropriate and I'll kick you out of bed," Shinichi muttered when he felt the thief's hands move over his body and heard how both Arata and Raiden became engrossed in whatever game they were playing as they talked into their headsets.  
>"Is that a challenge?" Kaito whispered and felt something hard strike him in his chest before he fell to the wooden floor, seeing the detective glare at him from the bed. Kaito pouted at the detective and then sent a glance to the teenagers above them as Raiden swore as Arata laughed victoriously.<br>"Ha! You really suck at being the hidden!" Arata called out before remembering his ill friend and glanced down, seeing that a guest had arrived and that the detective wasn't sleeping, "did I wake you?"

"No," Shinichi mumbled, "and Kaito was just about to leave."  
>"Shinichi! You're so mean!" the thief pouted and edged closer to the bed, lying his head on the side with a pathetic pout before turning to Arata, "he's mean! Tell him!" The blond haired teenager only grinned amused and was suddenly gone as the game started.<br>"Oh, shit," Raiden muttered when Arata chuckled to himself, "you're the hidden."  
>"Mommy, mommy, I have a gift to make for you," the skinny teenager whispered in a high-pitched voice, sounding very much like a child.<br>"Don't do the voice," Raiden complained with a groan.  
>"The gift involves adorning the walls with your dangling lifeless corpses," Arata continued and giggled, making Shinichi send a glance up to the bed above him, "ha! I got one!"<br>"Stop dragging bodies around! It eliminates the purpose of being invisible!" Raiden criticised with an amused snort while the other teenager laughed heartily and Shinichi twitched as he felt an arm wrap around him, realising that Kaito had sneaked into his bed and was lying with his back to the wall, smiling at him.

"You're so cute when you all freak out," Arata continued in the same child-voice, "your fear smells delicious, like blood roasted babies on a stick."  
>"This is the only game that makes you a complete creep," Raiden laughed and then swore, hiding his face in his hands and groaned in disappointment after Arata had killed him.<p>

Shinichi tuned out his friends' voices and pulled the magician closer, wanting to get more of that welcomed warmth and at the same time felt how he surrendered into unconsciousness. He really loved the fact that the calming scent of Kaito had that kind of effect on him when he was tired, otherwise he'd been turning for an hour without falling asleep. Kaito felt his boyfriend's breathing become deeper and smiled as he gave him a quick kiss and then laid his head on the detective's shoulder, knowing that he would wake up really early, but that just meant that he could get up and bother Hakuba; the Brit would absolutely love to wake up at four as he became drenched in water.

Raiden sent a glance down to the detective, seeing the small kiss and frowned. To him it was a weird revelation that Shinichi had a boyfriend, heck, he could still remember how they had laughed at the beach while observing girls a little older than them, but as he watched the magician fall asleep with his head on his friend's shoulder, hiding his face in the crock of Shinichi's neck, he realised that it was quite okay. They looked like everyone else, they could even be two close friends sleeping together to keep warmth. Raiden frowned and recognised that it could be no other way; the detective seemed happy and the magician seemed like a good guy, so why not? His screen became lighter and he immediately turned to the game, tuning out his own musings and realised that that was how it was supposed to be, not that he had any kind of objection to Shinichi's partner choice; it just came as a shock.

* * *

><p>AN: The game is real; it's hilarious! It's called 'The Hidden'. It's a mod for Half-life 2. If you want to see what it's about you can watch SeaNanners' 'Hunted by Morgan Freeman', people say that it's his funniest.

SeaNanners' 'Hunted by Morgan Freeman': youtube(.com)/watch?v=FDQx-guzx2s

Raiden is a god of thunder and lightning in Japanese mythology

The part about Shinichi freaking out over a lost child comes from the idea that is very similar to one episode where Hattori and Kazuha gets asked to watch over a small baby. Kazuha thinks that the mother was held up when she doesn't return. Hattori is certain that the child was kidnapped and now dumped with them. ;)

Ha! I wrote a chapter where barely anything happened! XD


	61. All Fun and Games

A/N: A week without writing (Almost!), I'm amazed I survived! AND I have a POCKET WATCH! I can now die happy XD  
>BTW what's with these long chapters? They are twice as long as they're supposed to be ^^'<p>

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness,<p>

Uploaded: 2012-12-16  
>Revised: 2014-09-17<br>Chapter rating: T  
>Words: 4,700<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Chap. 61<strong>  
><strong>All Fun and Games<br>**_-Until Someone Loses a Boyfriend_

Shinichi figured out that his life had taken a strange turn when he found himself conspiring together with Hakuba, speaking about the many traps that Nakamori had made, despite the museum owner's obvious happiness that Kaitou KID would visit him. The Detective of the East had been given an earpiece by his boyfriend so that he wouldn't worry too much about him and that did help even though they didn't talk. Both of the detectives were quite calm over the traps, knowing that the thief was good despite the fact that it would take a lot of acrobatic tricks to get out without capture.

They were trapped in the room together with the taskforce when Kaitou KID appeared inside the glass cage suspended in the air that held the case to the jewel, just as the clock became five and the officers reached zero in their countdown.  
>"Ha! KID you're trapped!" Nakamori called out, seeing the thief pick up the jewel with a grin and examine it before he placed it in his inner pocket, seemingly in no hurry at all.<br>"Okay, I'm caught!" the thief exclaimed happily and grinned widely, making the taskforce hesitate in suspicion. Kaito eyed the surrounding glass enclosure, waiting for the taskforce to catch up in their thought process.

"_How the hell did you get in there?!"_ Nakamori growled and pressed his face to the bullet proof glass, quickly examining the surface for any faux glass, but found none. Shinichi studied the small air-holes in the cage and realised the trick, but kept quiet. As he sent a glance to the blonde Brit he saw Saguru look back with understanding in his eyes as he too realised the trick.

The cage filled with smoke, making everyone take a few steps back and Shinichi gaped once it disappeared for on the display case sat no one else but Kaito, grinning happily.  
>"Hey, Nakamori! Look! I'm in a birdcage! No- A KID-cage!" the teenager laughed and everyone stared at Nakamori, who definitely looked like he wanted to strangle the thief.<br>_"Don't you dare use that boy's face!"_ the inspector roared and glared into the trap, making the thief raise his hands in surrender as the enclosure filled with smoke a second time, only for Aoko to sit there in her school uniform. The 'girl' giggled and waved to the officers.  
>"Hi, dad!" the thief said with a smile seeing the man's face turn pale before he became red in anger, launching himself towards the cage but was caught by two officers.<p>

"Sir! Don't open the cage!" Maasaki called out, making Nakamori pull back his arms with an angry scowl.  
>"Ah! I have to get back to Keiko!" the thief suddenly called out and sent a flirty wink to the Brit, making him twitch, "see you later Sagu-chan!" Smoke filled the room for a moment and then revealed the cage to be empty. A laugh echoed from one end of the room and everyone turned towards it, seeing the end of a mantle disappear in the doorway, making everyone set off after it.<p>

Shinichi clicked his tongue as he stared after the officers, knowing that he couldn't follow and aware that he didn't even want to.  
>"The glass could be pushed upwards with the help of the air holes, and was kept to the bottom pane with the help of electromagnets so that it would appear to be immovable and you just deactivated the magnets," the detective explained with a yawn. "Feeling high and mighty, KID?" Shinichi asked the seemingly empty room and turned to a golden throne with a plastic king on top, "you know that the crown is too big for you."<br>"It's not!" the thief argued childishly as he pulled off the plastic mask and pushed the crown in place, only for it to fall over his eyes, "it fits perfectly!"  
>"No, it really doesn't," Shinichi stated with a smile and then heard something roll on the floor, seeing a white egg beside his feet just before it exploded and effectively glued him to the floor in a goo-like substance. "Thank you," he muttered annoyed and watched the thief grin as he stood up and threw the large, thick, red mantle around himself.<p>

The detective pulled out his pocketknife and started to dig his way out of the glue, throwing suspicious glanced to the thief that was prancing around the room talking to himself in different voices while holding in a silver spear with a head shaped as a fleur-de-lis.  
>"If I say, 'please, your majesty', will you give me lemon juice?" Shinichi asked, knowing that it was futile.<br>"Nope," the thief sang and threw the red mantle over himself. Shinichi saw how it fell to the floor and understood that Kaito was gone, so he got back to carving in the glue-slime, hoping that someone would return to the room soon to help him.

* * *

><p>Using Conan's glasses Shinichi could see the outdoor skate rink clearly as he waited a long way away for a thief who couldn't skate. The rink had a lot of people in it and Shinichi smiled as he watched how it became emptied a bit as Teitan's class began to go back to the hotel for the poker-night and Shinichi knew that he would be late. A few taskforce members had mingled into the crowd of skaters and the detective harboured no doubts that Kaito had already spotted them even though they were dressed in civilian clothes.<p>

Just like in the ski contest a single light from the sky illuminated a spot on the ice and made the people move back towards the edges, recognising the blue light as the one they'd seen the day before. A small cloud of smoke started sipping out from the ice inside the lightened area, until it covered the small area and then showed KID standing there.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" KID grinned and then dodged the two taskforce members that tried to catch him by sliding back, making them crash into each other, "may a humble thief join you all on the ice?" Shinichi felt his pulse race in worry as taskforce members started circling his boyfriend that didn't seem to mind them while the audience called out in approval.  
>"Well then, with my audience's consent I would like to ask the taskforce to step back to watch the magic show I have planned," the thief said in a gracious bow.<br>"Like hell we will KID!" Nakamori roared from behind his men, looking as he was fighting to keep his balance on the skates.

"That's fine too. I can help you to stay put," KID stated with a smile, looking way too happy for Nakamori's pleasure, and snapped both his hands, causing the officers to continue straight ahead and into the crowd, leaving Nakamori alone on the ice.

With seemingly no effort Kaito started circling the inspector, grinning at him as he tried to move but was unable to when he only lost balance and began flailing with his arms.  
>"Shouldn't you be able to skate before you try to chase someone on skates?" the magician asked gleefully and spun around so that he was circulating the officer backwards.<br>"Shut up! And _you're_ not supposed to know how to skate! I've seen you!" Nakamori called out, sending the thief frustrated glares.  
>"Oh, my dear Keibu!" Kaito grinned as he discreetly pushed a button and stopped, "I only fell down so that you would chase the fake! You should know that! But now you have to stay there to not disturb my performance!" The thief snapped his fingers and watched how a flash bomb exploded by the inspector's feet, hiding the fact that he threw a beige egg so that it landed on the ground between the man's skates and coated him in purple slime, which Kaito had made sure so that it actually kept the man safe from the cold while he performed for his audience. To make sure that Nakamori didn't interrupt by yelling or swearing he duct taped the man's mouth shut; there were smaller children in the crowd after all.<p>

* * *

><p>Shinichi watched how Kaito held his little magic show, keeping both his boyfriend and his audience amazed by the tricks. Less than ten minutes into the show, reporters that had been at the heist the night before showed up and started to videotape him, keeping quiet to not disturb the magical air.<p>

In the crowd a young boy elbowed his twin sister, pretending that it wasn't him when she gave him a sour look. When he did it again she elbowed back, a bit harder than he had done, but she had to make up for two strikes. She released her teenage brother's hand and wacked her twin in his head after a while of silent fighting. The boy scowled and pushed his sister out into the ice, making her gasp in terror as she couldn't stop, but none of the people saw it as they were observing the thief summon glowing butterflies above them all.

A small squeak drew Kaito's attention back to the ice, as he had his ears tuned to any sound that didn't belong to his tricks, in case the anaesthetic powder stopped working on the taskforce. A little girl stared at him in terror as she tried to get up from the ice, but then sent a glance around seeing that many people were staring at her and that some of the cameramen had directed their cameras towards what it was that had drawn the thief's attention. Kaito watched her pale as her eyes grew panicked, and then did what any small child under too great pressure would do; she covered her eyes and face with her hands and started crying quietly, wanting everyone to stop looking at her.

Kaito pushed a button in his gloves making him move towards the little girl, retaking most of the attention back before he picked her up in his arms, making her gasp and take a quick look at who it was before she turned her face away.  
>"There there, it's okay," Kaito said lowly and allowed her to hide her face in this suit, "are you hurting anywhere?" The little girl shook her head a few times and he smiled. "Hey, everything's okay," he smiled and conjured up a light blue flower in the same colour of her winter clothes, handing it to her as he continued, "where are your parents?"<br>"Mom fell on the ice so dad brought her inside the hotel so that he could take care of her wrist. I'm here with my two brothers," she mumbled as she leaned against his chest, hiding as much as she could while spinning the rose slowly in her hand, sniffing a bit, "they were teaching me how to skate, but I'm bad. I can't do anything well, no matter how hard I try."  
>"Do you want to know a secret?" Kaito whispered with a smile and watched the girl get curious as she looked up in his face.<br>"What?" she blinked, seemingly having forgotten that she now was the centre of attention.  
>"I can't skate either," he whispered dramatically.<br>"What?! No way! But you're so old!" she called out.  
>"Oi! Don't say that! I feel like a geezer!" Kaito joked and made the girl laugh.<br>"But I saw you earlier! You're a liar!" she giggled and playfully hit him.  
>"No-no," Kaito smiled and lowered his voice, "do you want to know the secret of how to skate?"<br>"Yes, please," she said with an eager nod and Kaito raised his voice back to normal so that the closest people in the audience could hear him.

"Well, you see," Kaito began and put her down on the ice, holding into her hand so that she wouldn't fall, "this rink is magical. Watch this." He conjured a new rose in the same colour and held it so that its stem touched the ice and then removed his hand, showing that it was still standing. The little girl stared at it as the pedals began to glow in a week light and as the rose began to rise from the surface. On an impulse she reached out and swept her hand both above it and under it, gasping as she didn't touch anything.  
>"That's impossible!" she called out and stared at it while it rose so that it hovered above their heads.<p>

"See, I told you!" Kaito grinned, "it's magical! And now watch the rose reveal the insignia of the kingdom of the Ice Rose." The girl followed his gaze and looked to the ice underneath the flower and saw a small blue dot, "but the Queen told me that only a real princess can show the emblem, so I need your help, will you help me?" The little girl nodded and the thief smiled, "touch the light."  
>"But I'm not a princess!"<br>"Oh, but you are. You are someone's little princess, are you not?" Kaito's smile widened a bit as the girl blushed but still touched the dot while holding hard into his hand.

As the light was touched it began to expand over the ice and Kaito could hear the impressed gasps from the audience as a gigantic blue rose was revealed, lighting the ice from underneath, not knowing that that was something Kaito had done instead of drenching Hakuba in water during the hour of the wolf.

Shinichi smiled as he watched his boyfriend comfort the embarrassed young girl, realising that he was great with children. A bit sad he admitted to himself that they could never have a child, but the logical part of his detective brain supplied him with the solution of adoption, and he contently continued watching the magic from afar.

"See, I told you!" he said with a wink, "just like the little Winter Princess told me to do, and if you continue to train in the rink, and believes that you can do it, you'll be able to. The Winter Princess will make sure of it; she watches over little girls, and makes their dreams come true. Like her parents watches over the kingdom and her brother gives strength to young boys." Kaito chuckled and tilted his head, "you even look a bit like the Winter Princess." Smoke suddenly covered the little girl and as it disappeared it showed her dressed in a white and light blue princess dress with her black hair falling over her back. The girl gaped and shone in happiness as she looked down on herself. "Your crown, milady," Kaito suddenly held in a blue crown adorned with fake diamonds that he placed on her head.  
>"Thank you, KID," the girl glowed, "I bet you're a great dad! Do you have children?" The thief eyed her shocked and smiled a bit.<br>"No, but if I did, I'd want them to be just as good as you," Kaito smiled and pushed a button, making everyone's eyes draw to the sky to watch the fireworks while he helped the little girl back to her brothers and then vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving the emerald on top of Nakamori's head.

* * *

><p>Kaito held competition after competition that evening, even after Shinichi had gone to bed after keeping himself up to half past eight in the evening, but despite his best efforts to fall asleep, even after both Arata and Raiden had given up their gaming and left the room to watch the taskforce get outdone by a thief, something that Eiji was keen on watching.<p>

Shinichi rolled around in the bed, getting annoyed by the fact that it was so quiet that he could hear the ticking from his wrist watch, so he forced himself to stretch his arm over to the small table and then sit up to drop it in his bag that he still had at the end of his bed. After complaining to the gem for a while he sighed as his tired brain told him to get up. Not really knowing what he was doing he picked up a small wire, his pillow and hugged it to his chest as he walked out from the room with a yawn, slowly making his way through the corridors to another part of the hotel. He stared at the room numbers, remembering where Hakuba had told him that he slept. Getting to room 79 Shinichi picked the lock and looked around as he walked inside, seeing two people that he didn't recognise.

"Kaito?" a shorthaired and slightly more built than usual teenager asked with a laugh as he saw the tired detective, "what are you doing walking around like that? I thought you were out to stalk KID!"  
>"Yea, probably," Shinichi grunted as he saw his boyfriend's bag on the left top bed.<br>"We're going into town to see if we can find some really nice gifts for Akako-sama, They have this great shopping mall that always has open during the night," the other, more nerdy guy with freckles and glasses stated happily while Shinichi walked over to the bed and threw the pillow into it.  
>"Hope you find something extraordinary," he muttered and almost fell off as he climbed up into the unmade bed, checking inside the bag to make sure that it really was Kaito's.<br>"Hey, Kaito," the teenager in glasses exclaimed, "don't tell Hayashi-sensei that we snuck into town."

"Kaito doesn't even know that you did," Shinichi muttered and pulled up a shirt from the bag, seeing the two teenagers sneak out of the room, not caring that in their eyes Kaito had just referred to himself in third person, something the magician never did. The detective carefully sniffed the shirt, deciding that it indeed was Kaito's, and that he hadn't just gotten into someone else's bed that accidently had had the same bag and clothes as Kaito.

With a sigh the detective buried himself together with the shirt in Kaito's bed and turned for a little while before he'd fallen asleep, realising that he'd gotten so used to feeling the other beside him that he couldn't sleep without him. Ever since he'd left the hospital both Kaito and Chikage had not allowed him to be on his own. Kaito because he was a bit clingy, in a way that Shinichi would never want to change, while his mother had no idea why the detective's immune system had suddenly been damaged in a way that he'd been forced to stay in a sterile environment, fearing that it was a rare genetic disease and that he might get sick again.

Even his parents had shown up on the other side of the glass, worried until his father had been let in after being placed in a hazmat suit since he'd been travelling and they couldn't be certain if he carried any bacteria or virus. Shinichi had explained that he'd tried something with Pandora that hadn't quite worked out, and then confessed that he was seeing a guy, redirecting the author's attention of what he'd been trying to do with the jewel to questions about the boyfriend. Shinichi was not surprised when his father knew exactly who Kuroba Kaito was or that he looked a lot like Shinichi, and teased his son for that fact, until the nurses told him to get out since he made their patient anxious.

* * *

><p>Arata restrained a laugh as he walked inside the room, holding the door open for Eiji that was staring at his photos of the thief. The skinny youth blinked when he discovered that the detective's bed was empty, knowing that he'd said that he needed all the sleep he could get to function.<br>"Shinichi's not here," he commented and climbed up the ladder to his bed, pulling out his laptop that he'd hidden among his underwear while Eiji did the same.  
>"That's odd, but he'll probably show up in a little while," the buff teenager commented while his friend climbed down, "so master, teach me the skill of your trade!"<br>"Faire so, young apprentice," Arata grinned as he sat down beside the teenager, opening the computer.

In their game they completely forgot about the teenager that was supposed to be sleeping in his bed, until said teenager's boyfriend showed up asking for him.  
>"Eh?" Arata glanced to his watch and cleared his throat, "well, we came here about one hour ago, but we haven't seen him since nine, approximately." Kaito's eyes widened at the statement and he immediately called the detective's phone, hearing it ring from the end of the detective's bed, where he then found it inside the pocket of Shinichi's jeans.<br>"Oh, no, not good," Kaito muttered and forced away the feelings of panic as he went thought the bag, looking for a missing pair of pants, but only found that Shinichi's pyjamas were gone.

"What do you mean 'oh, no'?" Arata quickly asked, beating Eiji to the punch.  
>"Shinichi needs his sleep and he wouldn't walk around in his pyjamas! <em>And<em> he has a lot of enemies!" Kaito shivered at the thought, and then bolted out of the room as he tried calling the second detective but didn't get though, quickly followed by the other two.  
>"Where are we going? Shouldn't we call the police?"<br>"No, we need something better! We need a bloodhound, or rather a Hound of Baskervilles! We need Hakuba!" Kaito ran around the hotel, knowing that the detective was having some kind of couple's bonding night with Aoko, while pretending to be a suave gentleman, so he looked into the restaurant, into the library, the spa and the hot springs, all the while calling the Brit.

"Kaito!" a voice called out from the entrance to the hotel and made him stop slightly to see if Hakuba was near, "I thought you went to bed! And you have to check out what we bought!"  
>"Sorry, I have no time to chat Yamada-kun, I have to find the blonde bastard who refuses to answer his phone!" the thief called out and ran into a corridor only to realise the full implication of the teenager's sentence; Kaito had gone to bed. The thief laughed as he stopped, almost making the other two crash into him. Arata gasped for air as he leaned on the wall, sounding far too much as if he was dying so Eiiji asked the question that he knew he could see in the other's eyes.<br>"Why did you stop?" he wondered as the magician finished laughing.

"One; Shinichi needs sleep. Two; he's not in his bed. Three; where could he possibly be?" Kaito grinned as he turned to the Teitan students, reading cluelessness in their eyes. "_My_ bed of course!" the thief grinned happily, "those two are roommates of mine, and if they'd seen me go to bed that means someone's occupying my bed! And that sly detective is just as good as I am at picking locks; he doesn't need a key! My room should've been the first place I checked! Round one goes to panic!" Kaito laughed as he turned and ran towards his room.

* * *

><p>Shinichi didn't know how long he'd been sleeping when someone shook his shoulder and make him irritated enough to consider darting them, if it wasn't for the fact that he didn't have his watch.<br>"What?" he groaned tiredly and turned his head to face an unfamiliar woman.  
>"Is it true what I've heard?" the blonde woman with glasses and green eyes giggled, "you really have a boyfriend?"<br>"Good grief," the detective hid his head underneath the pillow, "go away!"  
>"That's no way to talk to your teacher!" she scolded lightly with a giggle, "is he cute?"<br>"Go away! You're not my teacher! It's in the middle of the night!" Shinichi called out from underneath the pillow.  
>"I'm your teacher whether it's day or night and it's only half past twelve!" she complained and puffed his shoulder, "come on! You've got to have a picture in your phone!"<br>"Who even let you in?" Shinichi removed the pillow and glared, making him only look like a pouting child, as he was too tired to try to look threatening.  
>"Hakuba-kun of course! I bet the other two went into town tonight again, well, as long as they don't get in trouble I'm fine with it."<br>"Hakuba!" Shinichi growled and pushed himself up so that he could take a glare at the Brit, only to see that the room held six teenage girls excluding the woman, but no Hakuba.  
><em>'Do you think they overpowered him, ate him and took his keys?'<em> Pandora asked as he say the gleam in the girls' eyes.  
>'Probably,' Shinichi thought and placed the pillow over his head after he fell back to the bed with a small bounce.<p>

"Come on Kuroba-kun!" the woman complained and puffed his shoulder again, "and considering who you are, it's probably a picture of him naked!"  
>"How old are you?!" he called out in a muffled voice, making the woman giggle.<br>"Oh, you know better than to ask that from a young lady!" she commented and Shinichi sighed, deciding to try to ignore them to his best effort.

"Go away!" Kaito heard Shinichi call out as he looked into his room, seeing a group of people giggle as they watched Hayashi poke the detective.  
>"Aw, leave him alone," the magician called out and watched amused how everyone seemed shell shocked by the fact that a second Kaito had appeared.<br>"Kaito, save me. I'm sure they ate Hakuba and took his key from whatever was left of his carcass," Shinichi begged and made the magician laugh.  
>"That would explain why I was unable to find him," Kaito walked up to the bed and shooed his teacher away from his boyfriend so that he could pull the pillow off of his head, "don't suffocate yourself after I've been running around like a headless chicken looking for Hakuba to help find my kidnapped boyfriend." Shinichi snorted at the complaint as he placed the pillow back underneath his head and Kaito blushed as he stared into the detective's blue eyes that carried a kind of sensual darkness in them.<br>"Why would you possibly think that? This should've been the second place you checked after my own room," Shinichi seemed thoughtful and then continued with a small smirk, "or did your brain turn to mush after seeing your beloved thief?"

"Aw, don't say that! You know that you're the only one for me," Kaito tilted his head with a smile and started to caress the detective's hair.  
>"Really, I'm pretty sure that you'd jump him the first chance you'd get, forgetting that I even exists," the detective grinned and a small flicker of red appeared in his eyes, as if Pandora hid just under the surface, and then his smile disappeared, "and as I see it you only have two options now." The seriousness of the room was only intensified by the powerfulness of the detective's eyes. "Chase them out, then get out yourself, or get in bed," Shinichi smirked and made the magician turn to the uninvited guests, grinning as he threateningly held up a hand to snap his fingers. One girl ran out but the rest stayed defiantly.<br>"Don't say that I didn't warn you," he stated and snapped his fingers, covering the room with smoke for a second, only for it to show a completely empty room after it dissipated and left behind that familiar dust-like rose scent. A squeak was heard from outside, followed by one girl laughing and then the door opening and closing before the lights went out and a warm body took its rightful place beside Shinichi, allowing the detective to wrap an arm around him.

It wasn't until the day after when Kaito got up that anyone even realised that there were two people in the top bed.  
>"Come on, Nichi, you can't sleep all day!" the magician said as he poked his boyfriend and made everyone look up.<br>"I sure as hell can," the detective muttered and pulled the cover over his head.  
>"Okay, will you get up if I bring you coffee?"<br>"You have yourself a deal," the detective sighed and heard the door open.

* * *

><p>AN: Kaito uses the powder in Magic Kaito to stun the gun dealers after he'd won the legendary cue, and he won the cue with the help of strings.  
>I was actually listening to a music box when I wrote the skating scene and just started writing the part about the child XD Actually that scene was supposed to end after the thing about Shinichi being amazed, but I am a sucker for fillers apparently and I wanted to write 'magic'...<p> 


	62. The Beginning of the End

A/N: A merry Christmas to you all! I know that apparently most people celebrate on the 25th, but here we celebrate on the 24th, so I thought to myself; why not try to update on the evening of the 23d so that I gets 'Christmas Reviews'! XD

Oh, and M-rated Christmas Candy for all you perverts out there XD (Don't feel offended, I'm the one who wrote that chapter which makes me one of ya'll)

**SubChap. 7**  
><strong>Lover's Play<strong> (a follow up to SubChap.6 and therefor a part of Chap. 53)  
>Url: fanfiction(.net)s/8075943/8/

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

Spoiler to:  
>Episode 286-288, Manga 350-354, -Golden Apple Case-<p>

Uploaded: 2012-12-23  
>Revised: 2014-09-17<br>Chapter rating: T  
>Words: 3,800<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Chap. 62<strong>  
><strong>The Beginning of the End<strong>

Shinichi had a lousy morning, where he was dead tired even after three cups of coffee. He couldn't walk outside because of the snowstorm that seemed determined to bury them alive and he was caught inside the hotel with the reporters, so he mostly stayed in his empty room, contently listening to the radio, staying in his half-sleeping state with a horny Kaito sucking on his chest and shoulders, happily marking him anywhere that would be covered by his clothes while everyone else were playing board games in one of the lounges.

The personnel at the hotel did their best to keep the doors from being blocked, allowing people to get out into the air and letting children play in the snow, advising to only go so far that they could still see the building. After eating a huge lunch the detective began feeling better, especially after Kaito had brought him to an open fireplace in the library, which was surprisingly empty, not that he doubted that Kaito hadn't begged or chased someone away when he ran into the library ahead of Shinichi, while the detective simply walked.

He sat in the large armchair holding his boyfriend close, not caring that a reporter that had been reading a book had fished up a camera and was taking their picture. Shinichi knew that the man was going to get paid big for the pictures of them kissing, but he didn't care.

It wasn't until he returned to the restaurant and was eating dinner that something caught his attention. Three teachers and a class of children were sitting by a table in the corner and the teachers started to look a bit panicked as they spoke with the children, who simply shook their heads and gestured to each other. Two of the teachers got up from the table and ran into the hotel and Shinichi bent forward to eat his soup with an astounding speed.

"You're going to get a stomach ache if you eat that fast," Kaito grinned, happy that their classes had mingled the night before and were allowed to eat mixed so that there weren't a Teitan class and an Ekoda class anymore.  
>"I have to, I'm going with the search party that might be forming in five to ten minutes after they've checked so that the missing child isn't in the room or simply just outside the door," the detective stated seriously and Kaito blinked.<br>"The what? There's a child missing?" he asked and saw that the closest people to them turned to the detective, curious as to hear more.

"By the table in the right corner from my position there's a primary school class, where one child is missing. And judging by the children's pants and shoes they came inside, went to their rooms to change to something colder and then came here, only to realise that one of them was missing," Shinichi took up his bowl and drank the scolding liquid and sent the table a glance, seeing that the blonde longhaired teacher that checked the room came running back, shortly followed by a teacher with long, black hair decorated with melting snowflakes. "And now they get the confirmation that the missing child's inside clothes are still in her room and that she isn't outside where they were playing, now if you excuse me," the detective got up from the table and ran to the class, quickly followed by Kaito.

"Can I assume that someone's missing?" he asked in a calm voice and the teachers stared at him in shock.  
>"Yes, how do you know?"<br>"I saw you do the head count and then run to check the room and outdoors. I'd like to join the search party, but I'm afraid that the police can't help, the roads are blocked," Shinichi stated as he eyed the mobile that the blonde had pulled up, "but I suggest that you inform them anyway even if they won't be able to make their way here. "You, miss," the detective nodded to a teacher with brown, short hair that had stayed to watch the children while the blonde called, "go to the hotel reception and inform them of the current situation. They probably already have experience with this kind of situation. Ask for flashlights and see if they know anyone close by with a rescue dog or a good tracker." The woman nodded and did as she was told. "What kind of clothes does he or she have?"

"She has a red jacket, grey ski pants and a red beanie," the woman with dark hair recounted and looked worried, "she must've been out there now for half an hour, if she didn't walk away when they were playing."  
>"It'll hopefully be okay, and she probably hasn't gone far."<p>

* * *

><p>Shinichi stood outside in the raging snowstorm together with his boyfriend among both of the classes and a couple from the hotel, worriedly realising that he couldn't see more than a few metres. He watched one of the staff that sat on a snowmobile yell something to another as he turned it on. The woman he'd called out to nodded and then watched him vanish into the white of the storm. A weak light could be seen in the wall of white and another snowmobile showed up, only this one was blue and had a police logo plastered on it. The officer was dressed in full snow gear and had a ski mask and glasses covering their face.<br>_'Did you hear that?'_  
>'What?'<br>_'Something else, other than the wind, I'm not certain if I'm just imagining things, but there was something else out there. A noise,'_ the jewel commented slowly and thoughtfully.  
>'From where? The place is as good as anywhere to search towards,'<br>_'I don't know, the wind and snow is throwing me off, but turn right,'_ Shinichi did as he was told slowly turning and then stopped when he was told to, looking directly into a wall of white.  
>'Compass check,' Shinichi stated in his head as he gripped into the small device in his pocket and threw a glance at the people standing and discussing which way they'd thought she'd gone since they wouldn't be able to search everywhere due to the fact that they could barely see anything, and Shinichi understood. When there was a storm like this an adult could go out from a house and then lose their direction only to walk in large circles around it until they froze to death, and if an adult could do that, so could a child.<p>

Shinichi took a glance to the compass and then walked into the snowstorm, moving slowly and carefully so that he wouldn't hit a tree, and knowing where a large slope was. Someone grabbed into his arm and he locked his eyes with his annoyed boyfriend's.  
>"What do you think you're doing walking away without me?" Kaito asked in a normal tone only a few inches away from the detective's ear.<br>"Pandora heard something, but all this noise is messing things up for him, and I thought that I could check it out," he explained, talking just beside Kaito's ear.  
>"I'm coming with you," the thief stated and Shinichi nodded, knowing that he felt much calmer about Kaito not getting lost as long as they were together, "I'm going to let Pandora take over, hopefully we won't run into anyone, and if we do I bet that Pandora can see them before they see us." Kaito nodded as Shinichi closed his eyes and then opened them with a smile, showing that they were glowing in red.<p>

'_Shinichi, work with me,'_ the gem asked quietly and suddenly stood before his host surrounded by complete darkness. Shinichi nodded and took the jewel's outreached hands, allowing him to see the world in red as their minds merged into one, but it was worse than what it had ever been; they could barely distinguish anything and it was even worse than when Shinichi was in control. Pandora looked around, complaining about the snow to his host, and looked back to where they came from, unable to see the hotel even though they could distinguish the lights from it. Shinichi watched how the view became clearer as some of the snow seemed to disappear around them.  
><em>'I honestly can't believe that worked!'<em> Pandora grinned getting an even clearer view and then realised that they could see the ten metres that they'd gone and that they could see a teenage girl looking in their direction. The young woman blinked and got a sad expression in her eyes before she turned to the group that was talking.  
>"Okay, let's go," the gem grinned and took the magician's hand as he started walking. They moved in silence and Shinichi studied the way trees lit up and how the gem could almost see the wind while keeping quiet; he could sense how serious and concentrated the jewel was as his eyes moved over the landscape and studied the wall of red.<p>

'How do you know where you're going?' Shinichi questioned after a while when Pandora turned a bit and walked in a new direction.  
>"I use the red wall to see, but what I see are echoes, split and distorted by the snow. If you concentrate you can see small movements in the wall and that the strength increases and decreases in small areas," Pandora said out loud, in case the thief too was wondering why they were walking in different directions, and Shinichi stared at the wall of red about ten metres ahead of them, realising that it looked a bit like swirling water.<br>'And you can tell anything from that?' the host wondered with a raised eyebrow.  
><em>'I've lived with that my entire life so I've had the time to adapt and study it,'<em> the gem answered with amusement as his host tried to see what he was seeing. They stopped for a moment, listening to the sounds around them and Shinichi noticed that the wall lit up to their left.  
>'What was that?' the detective stared at the pulsing wall and Pandora sent it a glance.<br>"That's just the search party," Pandora answered and continued walking away from it, pulling up the phone to see that he had three missed calls from his friends, "they are yelling our names and the little girl's name."  
>"That's impressive," Kaito commented, "I can't hear them at all."<br>"Let's continue," Pandora stated and turned back to the direction only to see the wall stir and intense, "that's her. High pitched, one vocal hold long; she probably called out for her mother. We're close." The jewel took a harder grip into his boyfriend's hand and pulled him along, until he could see a small child curled up against a tree, half-buried in the snow. She wasn't crying, or her tears had dried up, but she was pale and her eyelashes were white from the snow and ice, while it seemed like her cheeks had begun to collect snow that wouldn't melt.

"Straight ahead!" Pandora called out as he tore free from Kaito and ran, "Takako!" The child didn't move as her name was yelled and Pandora opened his jacket, knowing that the child might be going into shock from the cold or be falling asleep after her body had misinterpreted the cold as warmth. She twitched as someone carefully brushed away the snow on her cheeks and she tried to open her eyes that had been frozen shut by her eyelashes.  
>"Mom?" she asked weakly and Pandora took off a glove, feeling that she was cold as ice.<br>"No, my name is Pandora, nice to meet you," the jewel stated and opened her jacket, knowing that she now was too cold to be able to get her body warm by herself, "I'm here to bring you to your mother, what's her name?" The gem quickly pulled off the shoes and ski pants before he pulled her into his own jacket, placing her arms around his neck and then closed her in, shivering as the coldness of the child sipped through his shirt and suddenly realised that Kaito wasn't with him. Pandora looked around, seeing Kaito stand a couple of metres behind, looking around with an annoyed expression.  
>"Mom's name is Sorako," the child answered with a quiet whisper, "you're hurting me."<br>"What you feel is your body absorbing my warmth, and realising that it's in shock from the cold," Pandora informed her in a calm voice as he picked up her clothes and began to walk back to Kaito, "I won't lie; that pain will increase, and I do hope to get you back to the hotel so that you can sit in front of the fireplace, with a cup of warm chocolate. I know someone who can make the best hot chocolate." The gem handed the clothes to the thief and silently added; 'after you've taken painkillers.'

"Do you like hot chocolate?" he asked and poked the girl making her mutter something, "whatever you do Takako, don't fall asleep, if you do I can't promise you that you will see your mom again, so keep talking."  
>"I like chocolate," the child mumbled and hid her face in his neck, "both warm and cold, but warm chocolate should have marshmallows in it."<br>"Yea, that kind of chocolate is the best. Tell me about your friends," Pandora demanded and watched how Kaito called Hakuba while the jewel listened to the little girl.

"Yes, we found her. She's cold, but still conscious. Pan-, Shinichi has a compass so we're going to be going back with her," the thief said and watched his boyfriend frown as he looked at the compass, "Shinichi, what's wrong?"  
>"The compass..." Pandora said and held it up so that the thief could see it, "it's just spinning."<br>"Eh, Hakuba, what does it mean when a compass spins and no magnet is close by?" Kaito asked and heard the Brit grow silent.  
>"Do you have any power lines over your head?" the blonde detective asked the magician that was watching Pandora frown and look around.<p>

"Pa-, Shinichi can you see any power lines?"  
>"No," the gem muttered annoyed and moved the compass out from his body, holding it up towards the sky and glared at it as he lowered it again. "I know what's wrong."<br>"What's wrong with it?" Kaito asked, still with the phone to his ear and watched the gem hand it to him before taking a few steps back. The magician stared at it, before realisation hit him; it was pointing to Pandora, "ooh..." The magician hung up on the Brit and walked up to the jewel that closed his eyes as he let Shinichi take over.

"How about now?" the detective asked and Kaito shook his head as the compass was still pointing to him, no matter where he stood.  
>"Pandora can you stop the red-, whatever it is... Wall?" Shinichi asked aloud and watched it disintegrate until he no longer saw anything in red, "any better?" Kaito shook his head and Shinichi frowned, "but that doesn't make any sense! I checked our direction as we left!"<br>"Before Pandora took over, right?" Kaito continued.  
>"Yes, but Pandora isn't in charge anymore."<br>"But the compass is still messed up, so let Pandora take over again; we need him," the thief said and listened as his phone began to ring, "if the search party makes enough sounds Pandora will be able to hear them, right? And we know the general direction from where we came from." Shinichi nodded and Kaito answered the phone.

"Hey, Hakuba, we have a problem," the teenager called out into the phone, "our compass is spinning for no good reason, but we'll find you if you make a lot of noise, so if you tell people to shout as loudly as you can we'll find you."  
>"How would tha-,"<br>"Listen to who you're talking to," Kaito interrupted, making it seem like he could pull some kind of Kaitou KID-magic out of his sleeve, "noise, lots of noise and everything will be fine."  
>"Okay, I'll call you back in a minute," Hakuba stated and hung up.<br>"Pandora, now everything's up to you," Kaito smirked and watched the teenager with red eyes grin a bit awkwardly. "Listen," he said and placed his hands on the jewel's cheeks, seeing the little girl look at him, "everything will be fine, just relax and listen, or see, or whatever it is that you're doing." Pandora nodded and wrapped an arm around the little girl as the thief released him, studying the wall that was as far as he possibly could listen without the snow redirecting everything so that they walked the wrong way.

* * *

><p>The young woman that they saw before they left stayed behind as the search party also vanished into the storm and she sighed after she made her way to her room. She'd gotten her confirmation as she gazed after the teenagers that sneaked away to look on their own. The woman pulled off the mask, revealing that she looked to be around her thirties and that she had long blonde hair instead of shoulder length brown hair. Vermouth pulled up a cigarette as she began pouring herself a bath and lit it even though it was against the policy of the hotel.<p>

The woman eased into the warm bathtub with a content sigh and as she soaked in the water she thought of her life, knowing that it would soon end. The detective's wish to save people and unwillingness to let them die was admirable and was what drew her to him; he was so much like her son, and the fact that she'd seen _that_ in his eyes had made her heart twist in pain, for she knew what it was. Vermouth threw the cigarette in the toilet and picked up one of the pictures from a pocket in her clothes, seeing the young man smiling at the cameras, enjoying being the centre of attention; it was a picture she'd taken of the detective after his return, when he stood in front of the reporters and answered their questions with seemingly endless patience. She stared at his eyes, confident smile and relaxed posture, seeing the similarities of her own son. She'd seen it after Angel had saved her in New York once he carried her away, looking like the spitting image of Isak. It was at that time that she woke up from her long nightmare, realising that she'd had enough as she remembered the last conversation they'd ever had, but the words echoed hollowly inside her head, unable to touch her frozen heart.

Ever since that day in New York she'd been keeping an eye on Shinichi and remembering small parts of her own family, all the while she searched for the cursed jewel, and was horrified once she saw that all too familiar gleam of red in his eyes. It was just before the takedown of the Organisation, when Gin shot the thief in disguise. She's seen horror and dread in the young boy's eyes, and as he kicked the balls his eyes had shimmered in red, no one else seemed to notice it or just though that it was a reflection of some kind, but Vermouth saw it.

The woman had seen those kind of eyes far too many times to not recognise them the instant she saw them; her father had always brought the gem with him wherever he went, and as long as he knew that no one could see him he spoke with it. As a young girl, the woman couldn't have been more than six or seven when she got to hold the jewel for the first time, but her eyes hadn't glowed red once Pandora spoke, making her father furious. She remembered the argument her parents had had after that, ending with them coming to an agreement to never speak of it again since the scandal would ruin both the man's 'daughter' and his wife. Her older brother had comforted her, promising that her father wouldn't throw her out even though she was her mother's bastard, and he hadn't done it either. She had grown up in the family and married long after her brother had while no one had ever known who her real father was, not even she knew.

After she soaked in the water she got up and donned the disguise again before she made her way down to the restaurant, sitting by a window drinking coffee and decided that the light she'd seen in the snowstorm had been something else, anything to delay what she had to do. She must've waited for an hour before the search party showed up outside and she went to the main lobby, seeing the detective come inside, carrying something inside his jacket.

"Are someone a doctor or a nurse?!" he called out and made Vermouth smile before as she ran up to him.  
>"I'm a nurse, let me take a look at her," she demanded in a voice that didn't belong to her and examined the child, "she needs to become warm." Vermouth took eye contact with a staff member. "We need to tap up a bath, and you," she turned to who she assumed was a teacher, "go and get something warm for her to drink." She turned to the staff member with a nod and then followed him as they ran to an empty room, immediately beginning to tap up the water.<p>

"Where's Pandora?" the little girl asked as she fought against her wish to fall asleep and made Vermouth tense, "he promised that he'd get me to mama."  
>"Did he? Well, you will probably meet your mother tomorrow," the woman stated and sank the child into the water without removing her thin clothes, warmth was more important than getting wet, so as soon as the child was in the water Vermouth removed her shirt.<p>

"Could you go and get a large towel and blankets? Lots of blankets," the woman asked as she turned to the man that seemed unsure if he was needed or if he was supposed to leave. The staff member nodded, relieved to have been given an order, and Vermouth turned back to the child.  
>"Tell me, ice princess, did one of the boys who found you have red, glowing eyes?" the child's eyes widened at the question as Vermouth continued to remove the child's clothes.<br>"Yes, how did you know?" Takako mumbled and eased even deeper into the water, "they said that I saw it because I was exhausted."  
>"Yes, it was because you were exhausted," the woman smiled sadly and took care of the child until the very next morning when the police showed up, following behind a snowplough, but as she left in a cab she looked at the snow with a last sigh; tomorrow she had lots and lots of work, and soon after she'd finished the trap she would destroy the heart of the boy that reminded her so much of her son, because it was time.<p>

* * *

><p>AN: Gin shoots KID in Chap. 16 (Wow, how strange it is to go back that far and look at the text...)

* * *

><p>Ooh, D, you know me all too well!<p> 


	63. Vermouth's Endgame

A/N: So I had to rewrite Vermouth's conversation over and over again and sadly I had to erase about... _an entire chapter!_ But I'm quite content with how the chapter ended even though I had another cliffhanger planned since the beginning of the summer... *singing* But that's life, that's what all the people say...

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

Uploaded: 2012-12-29  
>Revised: 2014-09-17<br>Chapter rating: T  
>Words: 4,500<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Chap. 63<br>Vermouth's Endgame**

The streets of Tokyo were clean from snow and the warm weather had returned, hinting that the intense summer was only around the corner, just as much as the final tests and choices the students had to do before the end; were they about to begin working or were they going to keep studying at the University. Even the media storm over the pictures of Kudou Shinichi and his boyfriend kissing had calmed down. For a while Shinichi had been worried, because the reporters wanted nothing else but to portrait Kaito as Kaitou KID, and they even got the story right, but it had been drowned in the mass of other theories until Kaitou KID himself had complained over the theories directly to the owners of the newspapers, promising to wreck havoc with their paper if they didn't stop, but still allowed them to print that he threatened them with swapping the paper before it went to the printing office.

Shinichi had then been forced to listen to Kaito whine over the fact that the newspapers were actually obeying him; he already had a paper that he'd made, and that he wanted to get printed. The detective had read the thing and wondered if anyone would fall for the fact that Kaito had written a bunch of fake news; one was that Europe had been struck by a comet, another that Japan had made contact with aliens, and a third that the first confirmed zombie had shown up in USA. Most of the other news circulated around the taskforce, like the fact that Nakamori considered buying a new couch and that Maasaki's wife had had a boy, or around Kaitou KID's fan club, congratulating a few on their birthdays and sending warm regards to a couple of upcoming magicians, saying that he watched their show and saw them as much promising. The detective had then wondered why the newspapers _actually_ obeyed him; they would probably sell a lot if the public got to know that it was Kaitou KID that had come up with the news.

* * *

><p>It was a day like any other, and Shinichi had been invited by Ran and Sonoko to karaoke, and to not be the only guy except Isamu, who could sing according to Ran, he had invited Hakuba, who was going to bring Aoko, while Kaito had been pouting, muttering that he had to plan his heist that was only a few hours later that day since Nakamori had come up with a trap. The detective had had a normal school day and expected a normal heist -as normal as those could ever be- and wasn't aware of the rope of trouble that was slowly closing around his neck. Every step he took was one bit closer to the inevitable end, and Vermouth was sitting in her apartment, smoking to calm her nerves as she watched the teenager in the company of his friends meet up with Hakuba outside of the karaoke place.<p>

A small wince was heard in the otherwise quiet room and the woman sent the girl tied to a chair a glance, seeing her move a bit as she was waking up from the weak chloroform. The woman returned her gaze to the street, seeing the blonde take up a cell phone, and only a moment later the phone in her hand started buzzing.  
>"Saguru-chan!" the woman answered in her captive's voice, "I'm sorry that I'm late! I'm on my way with our bento, and I'll be there soon!"<br>"Okay, Aoko," the blonde detective answered, "be careful."  
>"Don't worry! And you can begin without me!" Vermouth said and closed the phone, watching the teenagers move inside the building, and then took a deep breath from her cigarette, wondering if the plan would succeed.<p>

Muffled sounds made the woman turn her head and meet the worried gaze of Nakamori Aoko.  
>"Good morning Bluebird, the sun has been up for quite some time," Vermouth smirked coldly as she walked up to the teenage girl and ripped away the duct tape that covered her mouth.<p>

"My father is a police officer so you've made a serious mistake in kidnapping me!" Aoko growled and pulled every single strand of courage to stare into the cold, ice blue eyes.  
>"Nakamori Ginzo, head of the Kaitou KID taskforce," Vermouth stated and leaned against the wall beside a small table that carried one large case and a big box. She studied the other two victims she had tied to two other chairs in each corner, one man and a woman; old friends of hers, "I don't want anything from your father, except target practice." Vermouth smiled as she pulled open the large case, showing that it contained a disassembled sniper rifle.<br>"What?" Aoko stared wide-eyed at the weapon, "but you can't!" Vermouth ignored the girl and then pulled up a black disposable cell before she dialled.

"Hello there, Ghost Shadow," the woman smiled and continued before the thief had time to answer, "yes, I know how you are. Listen, I want you to hold your heist three hours earlier than planned, and make sure that you do as I say, otherwise I'll hurt someone you don't want to get hurt, or killed. Say hello to your _precious_ Bluebird," Vermouth took the phone away from her ear and turned on the speakers.

"Vermouth? Who do you have?" Kaito asked and altered his voice so that it was darker and more mature, in case it was being recorded, "hello? Who's there?"  
>"Go on girl, tell Ghost Shadow who you are, or the other dies," Vermouth stated coldly and pulled up a gun, pointing it towards the corner where the man was sitting and held out the phone.<br>"I'm Nakamori Aoko, daughter of Nakamori Ginzo," the girl stated in an unsteady voice after throwing a glance around and seeing that she wasn't alone, "who are you? And how do I know you?"

"Aoko?" Kaito asked and then remembered what Shinichi had told him about Vermouth, "that woman who kidnapped you knows how to change her voice. Tell me something only you knows, anything, and I'll do everything in my power to save you."

"Who are you? I don't even recognise your voice," Aoko commented with a frown.  
>"I'm someone who knows a lot about you and the people around you, so just confirm that you're you,"<br>"I'm still afraid of going to the doctor, and I always brings Kaito,"  
>"That's something that Vermouth could've found out through security cameras; but what does Kaito always tell you?"<br>"That it will be fine, and that if I get hurt he'll force a fish down the doctor's throat," Aoko smirked at the memory, "but who are you?"  
>"Kaitou KID," the thief sighed and the girl gaped before she grew angry.<br>"I don't want _your_ help! _Thief!_ Tell Saguru that I was kidnapped! Or tell dad!" Aoko roared and felt how her cheeks began to burn from both anger and embarrassment; why did the thief see her as precious? And how did he know what Kaito always told her?  
>"Ooh, Aoko, I'm sorry, but Vermouth is a cold blooded killer and she'll probably not let me..."<p>

"Good guess," Vermouth smirked, "if you involve the Little Hawk in our business I'm afraid that there will be a small metal object travelling through your lovely friend's head. I have two other hostages that will do just fine. I took three because I don't want anything unforeseen to happen, but not only that, everyone who's at the heist will die too; it will go down in Japanese history as the most gruesome bloodbath in the modern era, and the name Kaitou KID will forever be connected to it, I'll make sure of it."

"Why?" Kaito questioned frowning, knowing that his boyfriend had told him that Vermouth never really made any sense to him; she had her own agenda and sometimes was an enemy, while other times was an ally, "you helped Meitantei-san take down the BO, so why are you doing this now?"  
>"My objective is none of your concern, all you have to do is keep the heist three hours too early. I don't care if you aren't prepared enough to get the jewel, but my hostages will be released once the heist is over. Cool Guy probably told you that if I make a promise I also keeps it."<br>"Yes, but the promise might not involve exactly what you agreed upon. Like the fact that near death would come to Meitantei-san since you just couldn't hand over the information. Never trust Vermouth_, that's_ a rule."

"Do or don't, that's _your_ choice. You can either hold the heist or you can try to find me, but if the heist is not held and if you don't find me, of which I'm certain, I'll kill the girl and the other two, and then I'll dump her dead body at your heist. I'll slather your audience and I'll watch the inspector and boyfriend mourn before I go on to killing the Bluebird's father. Every day after that I'll continue killing someone close to your heart, continuing with that lovely Phantom Lady, but I wonder what Cool Guy will think of you once he gets to know that you're the one responsible for his parents' death," Vermouth grinned as the only thing she could hear in the phone was silence, indicating that she was getting to him, "the question is; which detective to kill first? The Little Hawk or Cool Guy? I think that Cool Guy is a good first choice since he'll give you the most pain, don't you? And the Little Hawk wouldn't want to work with someone that was too proud to hold his heist a bit earlier to save his girlfriend." The woman could practically hear the thief snap before he even yelled.

"_I'll hold the damn heist! And then I'll find you, you hear me, Vermouth?!"_  
>"Oh yes, lovely. I think that we've finally come to an agreement,"<br>_"And if you hurt Aoko in any single way I'll kill you!"_ Kaito yelled even though he knew that he'd probably not be able to.  
>"Just hold the heist Ghost Shadow, that's <em>all<em> you have to do," Vermouth hung up and then smirked at the girl, "he's quite loud when he gets angry, isn't he?" The teenager closed her gaping mouth and simply stared at the woman who tore out the battery from the phone before she pulled up the next and began dialling a new number.

* * *

><p>Shinichi was sitting in the couch, discussing a new TV series starring Sherlock Holmes with Hakuba while Ran sang the first song.<br>"Isamu-kun!" Sonoko laughed just after the brunette finished her song, "have you ever heard a detective sing?" Shinichi felt his eye twitch, knowing that the criticism was directed towards him and sent Sonoko a glare, seeing Isamu blink confused out of the corner of his eyes. "Shinichi-kun! Get up here! I've chosen the perfect song for you!" The Detective of the East growled irritated, but still obeyed, hoping that Hakuba was just as bad as him. To everyone's surprise Shinichi's singing wasn't as horrible as they remembered it to be, and they didn't need to evacuate the room or gag him. The detective's singing was still out of tune, but it followed the song somewhat.

"Happy?" Shinichi muttered after he finished and saw how both Hakuba and Isamu stared at him with disturbed faces.  
>"Shinichi! When did you learn how to sing?" Ran giggled and made Sonoko scowl.<br>"You've been training when you were undercover, haven't you?" the blonde girl complained loudly, "and I wanted to see both Isamu-kun and Hakuba-kun try to claw their ears off!"  
>"Shut up! And yes, I was forced to train an entire summer because of my other identity!" Shinichi grumbled as Sonoko jumped up from the couch and grabbed the mike.<p>

"Wait, _that_ was actually _good_?" Hakuba asked in a disbelieving tone and Shinichi gave him a deadpanned glare, making the blonde smile amused.  
>"This time we don't need to tie him up and perform an exorcism!" Ran whispered loudly to her boyfriend, allowing everyone to hear her and made Shinichi groan.<br>"That wasn't funny! Who even came up with that idea in the first place?!" the dark haired detective winced at the memory and then heard his phone buzz while Ran began to retell the story of their class' first school trip and Sonoko started singing.

Seeing an unfamiliar number on the display made Shinichi hesitate to answer; he wasn't supposed to work that evening, but curiosity made him still answer it, as it could be a really interesting case after all.  
>"Detective Kudou Shinichi speaking," the teenager answered and walked into a corner, covering one ear with his hand.<br>"Good evening, Cool Guy," a coldly amused voice greeted smoothly in his ear, smirking at the singing she could hear in the background.  
>"You!" Shinichi hissed, "why did you kill Bourbon and Anokata? Why didn't you hand them over?"<br>"Because I wanted to kill them," the woman answered simply, clearly not caring about the fact that she'd taken someone's life, "and Anokata had a lot of connections, so he would've been out of prison before he'd even made it inside."  
>"We would've taken down the organisation, no one would've been able to help him," the detective stated annoyed and ran a hand through his hair.<br>"Aw, poor little detective, you clearly don't know how the criminal world works. The world in shadow is always in a constant power struggle. The Black Organisation was the biggest syndicate and was that because it had a good boss. Anokata only destroyed the upcoming structures that he saw could challenge him in the future and he protected the ones in which he saw potential usages, but imagine if the boss for a smaller organisation could get their hands on a consultant as good as Anokata. They would rise to power and riches in no time." Shinichi growled annoyed, knowing that Vermouth was right.

"Fine, I understand, but it's no excuse! What do you want?"  
>"I want an answer to my question."<br>"What question?"  
>"Have you forgotten?" Vermouth questioned with a smirk, "how far are you willing to go in the matters of your heart?"<br>"What does that even mean?"  
>"We are all animals, Cool Guy, our instinct makes us protect family with our life. I was a bit sad when you chose that little dove as your partner, because it means that I couldn't kill your child, but I did the next best thing..." Vermouth chuckled coldly and Shinichi's eyes widened as he felt himself freeze from the inside out, suddenly shivering from panic.<br>"What did you do?" he whispered in the phone, fearing the worst as he got an image of a dead Kaito, and heard the laugher from his friends as Isamu was handed the mike, "Vermouth, _what the hell have you done?"_  
>"Nothing, yet, but there's something I want from you. You see, I have three hostages, whereas two are expendable. Girl, speak," the ex-member demanded and Shinichi heard a second voice.<p>

"Hello, Shinichi-kun," Aoko whispered shivering, not liking the company of the older woman, "it's Aoko, could you tell Saguru that I love him, most of all? And tell dad too, okay?"  
>"Aoko?" Shinichi questioned silently and glanced to the Brit on the couch, seeing that the other detective was observing him with sharp eyes, before he turned his back to him again, "I know how obsessed Hakuba is, so do you have a word for these kind of situations?"<br>"Yes, tell him, 'flower pedal' and he'll know that it's me," the young girl stated a bit louder.

"How adorable," Vermouth muttered, "but it's time for you to meet my other hostages, one of them is pretending to be asleep while the other actually is. Which one of your parents do you love the most? Which one do you want me to spare? Your mother, or your father?"

"I can't possibly choose, and there's no way that you have them. You could never catch dad, and dad would never allow you to catch mom," the teenager stated confidently while the woman walked up to the captured man and held the phone towards him.  
>"Yuu-kun, say hello to Shinichi, I bet that you too have a word in case he ever got kidnapped as a child." There was only silence in the phone and the detective frowned. "Well, he seems resilient in his wish to pretend being asleep," Vermouth stated and placed the gun against the man's leg before she pulled the trigger, making him scream in pain as he threw his head up and then glared at her, gasping for air as he held back his wish to wince. Even though the gunshot and scream was drowned in the music, Shinichi tensed as he recognised the voice.<p>

"_What the hell did you do?!"_ he called out in the phone, making the girls glare a bit at him, thinking that it had something to do with his parents arguing, "_dad?!_" Shinichi knew he was panicking, but he needed to hear his father's voice, so he ran to the TV and pulled out the plug.  
>"Shinichi-kun!" Sonoko called out as the music died and was about to start arguing.<br>"_Shut up!"_ Shinichi called out as he only turned his head towards them a little and kept his back to them, "Vermouth, did you just kill dad?"

"I just shot him in his leg, he'll be fine for a few hours, the bullet went right through and into the floor and I made sure to miss the femoral artery. I said; say hello, Yuu-kun," the woman stated with a smile.  
>"Hello, Shinichi," Yuusaku forced out, trying to hide the pain from his son, but he knew that the teenager would still hear how strained his voice sounded.<br>"Dad, no... Say it, do you remember the secret that we had when I was little?"  
>"Knight's Blade," Yuusaku stated and Shinichi placed a hand over his forehead as his shoulders slouched.<br>"Is mom there? Is she unharmed?" the detective asked worriedly while everyone in the room had quieted down to listen to the conversation.  
>"Yes, I think she's fine. She's still unconscious," the author stated and Vermouth took back the phone and walked over to the table.<p>

"What do you want, Vermouth?"  
>"Good, we're finally getting somewhere," the woman smirked as she closed the case with the sniper rifle and took it in one hand before turning to wink at her captives, "in the air vent in the room you're in right now you'll find a gift."<p>

Shinichi rushed to the vent and climbed up on the table before he pulled out the grid, indifferent to the fact that he destroyed a piece of the wall, while the blonde woman opened a lock on the box on the table inside the apartment. The detective pulled out something hard, wrapped in a white towel as Vermouth opened the box, revealing a timer to a bomb, and made the teenage girl stare at it in terror before she walked out of the room, locking the bleeding man and the girl inside. The detective jumped down from the table and unwrapped the towel, seeing a gun in silver, decorated with green stones and a small earpiece, just as Vermouth got to the kitchen and sat down by her table, happy that she'd remade the entire place so that it was soundproof.

"I don't understand what this means; do you want me to take my life with this?" Shinichi questioned silently, and made sure to hide his eyes from the rest of the occupants in the room; he could feel Pandora more clearly than he'd ever done, stirring in worry just under the surface. He could even see lines in red flashing through his sight, almost like when they worked together, and it wouldn't be good if his eyes suddenly began glowing red.  
>"Of course not, that gun is your weapon, and you will use it to save your parents, Bluebird, your Ghost Shadow and every single person that's at the heist," Vermouth informed as she opened her laptop and began to observe the occupants through hidden cameras and Shinichi grew confused.<br>"Who do you want me to kill?" he questioned and turned his head away as he felt someone grab into his arm.

"Tell the Little Hawk to stay away," Vermouth demanded and Shinichi nodded to himself, throwing a glance at the shoes of whoever it was that had grabbed into his arm, seeing that it was the Brit.  
>"She's watching us... Hakuba, go and sit down on the couch," the blonde hesitated at the request, "she has Aoko-san too, 'flower pedal', so do as I say. Aoko-san will be the first to go, because Vermouth knows that she can use my parents against me better." The blonde paled and backed away. "So the gun is my weapon, then who are the bullets for?"<br>"Take a look at them," the woman demanded and Shinichi held the phone to his ear with his shoulder as he took out the magazine, seeing bullets with green points.  
>"What the hell is this?" he asked as he saw that they seemed to be handmade and shoved the container into the gun again.<br>"Special bullets that I want you to use," Vermouth stated and activated the cameras in the room with her captives, seeing the author struggle against his restraints just as much as the teenager.  
>"And who is so special that you've made bullets for them?" the teenager asked angrily, but received no answer, "tell me who the bullets are for!"<br>"Me," Vermouth's smirk turned into a grin and Shinichi blinked, unable to comprehend.  
>"<em>What<em>?" he frowned confused; _that_ was not what he expected, "what? Why? I don't understand! _What do you want me to do?_"

"Cool Guy, I want you to answer my question; how far are you willing to go in the matters of your heart?" Vermouth chuckled amused, "we're going to have a shootout; a modern shootout, where only one of us will survive. You have nine bullets to kill me, and there will be no reloading for you, so if you use all of those bullets without killing me I win, but that's not all. You have to kill me while I try to destroy everything you love, starting with that thief and then your parents, and if you fail in killing me before the time runs out, everyone dies but me. Let's play the game."  
>"<em>What? What's wrong with you?!"<em> Shinichi called out and held his breath as he realised that he was almost panting from stress and worry.

"Tell the Little Hawk to stay where he is and take the earpiece so that I can talk to you. This will be fun. I will start killing people at the heist in half an hour, so you better get there quickly," Vermouth informed and saw on the watch that the thief would start his heist in less than half an hour. Shinichi breathed out a nervous breath as he heard the busy tone, feeling conflicted, but he didn't doubt that Vermouth would start shooting if she said so.

"Hakuba, you have to stay here in this room, or Vermouth will kill Aoko-san," the detective stated without looking at anyone and he shoved the phone in his pocket before he grabbed the gun and stuffed it in the inner pocket of his jacket.  
>"Shinichi, are you going to kill someone?" Ran asked weakly as he placed the earpiece in his ear.<br>"Hopefully not, and you all better stay in here or I'm going to hold you personally responsible for my parents' death," the detective stated loudly, hoping that they would be safe, and pulled on his jacket before he hid his face with the hood and ran out of the room, knowing that he would have to hurry if he was going to make it in time.

Shinichi ran until his muscles were burning from pain and his throat was dry and numb. He ignored the flashes of red light until he got to the excited crowd of KID-fans and asked the jewel to deal with it as he pulled the hood closer and ran through the crowd with his eyes shut, using Pandora's echolocation to make it as swiftly as he possibly could. A loud bang was heard and Shinichi stopped frozen, seeing a cloud of smoke disappear around Kaitou KID that was standing on top of a large angel statue in marble with a diamond as a heart.  
>"Ladies and Gentlemen!" the thief called out and Shinichi quickly inspected the roofs of the buildings as he swore; he knew what the heist note had said and KID was too early! The audience roared the name of their idol and quickly went closer to the open area while the police barricades held them back so that the taskforce had a large place to work on.<p>

The detective only listened with half an ear as the thief continued to greet his audience and taunted the officers that tried to climb the statue, listening to a quiet chuckle in his ear.  
>"Doesn't the Ghost Shadow make an excellent target up there?" Vermouth questioned and Shinichi pulled out his phone as he elbowed himself through the crowd, not caring that people were shouting at him and swearing. He received no answer as he called his boyfriend, knowing that the thief didn't have any sound on his phone as long as he was at a heist, but Shinichi had still hoped that he'd be able to warn him.<p>

Shinichi tackled his way through the officers that made sure to hold back the crowd and rolled on the ground, seeing that the thief came around the statue, obviously hunted by the taskforce. He tried to scream, tried to warn him as he got up and began to run towards them, but he was too out of breath and his throat was too dry so the only thing that came out was a squeak so small that he almost didn't even hear it himself.

"Game," Vermouth's voice whispered in his ear and Pandora called out in his head, telling him that she was on the building to the museum; an old building, only a few floors high and Shinichi threw a glance up, seeing the woman with a sniper rifle pointed towards his thief.  
>"Set," she continued with a cold voice, and calculated where the thief would run. KID threw a grin to the head of the taskforce that was just behind him, pulling out a smoke bomb as he decided that the chase was over and that he had to find the ex-member and free Aoko, not seeing that his boyfriend was running towards them.<br>"Match," the woman finished just after the thief threw a smoke bomb and Shinichi entered the cloud with only one thought as Vermouth pulled the trigger; protect Kaito.

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><p>AN: I hope you liked this chapter! XD


	64. The Imprint in Power

A/N: This chapter didn't turn out quite the way I wanted it too, but I guess that it's "good enough". Enjoy!

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

Uploaded: 2013-01-06  
>Revised: 2014-09-17<br>Chapter rating: T  
>Words: 4,500<p>

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><p><strong>Chap. 64<br>The Imprint in Power**

Something yanked forcefully in Kaito's collar and he fell to his back on the hard pavement as three shots echoed between the buildings and he felt how a few drops of something uncomfortably warm hit him in his face. The entire scene froze as two people yelled in pain and he recognised that one of the voices belonged to Nakamori. The smoke dissipated, revealing that he was lying on the ground, covered in stains of blood with Shinichi standing a step away with a silvery gun in his hand, raised towards the roof and two growing stains of blood, seemingly shielding Nakamori that had fallen to the ground as he'd been struck in the foot from the bullet that had pierced through the outside of the detective's right leg while Hiro was gripping into his arm that was bleeding profoundly, trying to stop the flow as he'd been struck by the one that went though the detective's left shoulder.

"Vermouth!" Shinichi yelled as his hood fell off, not caring that his vocal cords felt as if they were breaking.  
>"Well done, Cool Guy," a woman's voice echoed between the buildings as she used the thief's speakers, "you saved everyone's life, but now the real game begins." Just as the ex-member finished the sentence large metal nets shot out from building to building, keeping the audience trapped on the scene and everyone could hear the crackling from the net as electricity travelled through it. "Surprise!" Vermouth sang and the two large screens that belonged to a news company flickered off before a large countdown took over one of the screens while the other held the image of a bomb with a different time.<p>

"Stop this now!" Shinichi called out and watched the woman take aim on the thief. The detective fired the gun, hitting her shoulder, but Vermouth didn't seem like she felt it even if she twitched back before she retook the aim. The detective fired his gun again, hitting the muzzle of the weapon just as Vermouth fired and made the bullet imbed into the statue with a burst of shards of marble. Shinichi saw the timer reach zero and felt how the ground shook as the air filled with the sound of an explosion. Sending a glance up, he saw that the top of the modern sky scraper was in flames before he returned an angry gaze to the woman.

"A small demonstration, no one was harmed, but the next two won't be as kind," Vermouth's voice echoed loudly and Shinichi watched how the camera that had the other bomb zoomed out, panned around and showed his mother in the corner, still sleeping, his father that was struggling against his restraints while bleeding from his leg and Aoko, crying with her head tilted down, before it turned back to the bomb. The screen that had held the first timer turned on, showing the crowd, and then zoomed in on what appeared to be a bomb, hanging in a line between the two buildings where most of the crowd was, having a timer that showed ten more seconds than the one that would kill his parents.

"These bombs are connected to my heartbeat, so if that stops, so does the timers," Vermouth's voice stated quietly in his ear and Shinichi trembled as he knew what he had to do, feeling Pandora's worry, "it was your idea, remember?" He held a hard grip into the gun and tilted his head down, staring into the thief's shocked eyes and heard Vermouth count down until the second bomb would go off.  
>'<em>Shinichi,<em>' Pandora whispered as the woman reached ten and the host could feel how the jewel hugged his mind, '_together._'  
>"Together," the detective whispered and Vermouth watched in interest how the green diamonds of the gun glowed in red and Kaito saw the teenager's eyes shine at the same time. Shinichi whipped his head up, uncaring if anyone could see his eyes glow. His hand stopped shaking and his eyes turned cold before he pulled the trigger. A glowing red trail came out of the gun, striking the woman between her eyes and made both of the timers stop. Shinichi only had time to blink before the world was drenched in strong, red light and he closed his eyes as he dropped the gun and grabbed into his head, but opening his eyes a crack made him see that Kaito had thrown and arm over his eyes, shielding them from the light as all sound seemed to disappear around them.<p>

'Well done, Pandora,' a female voice whispered in his mind, a voice that didn't come from the earpiece. Pain flooded Shinichi's body and he found himself in the library as he fainted, inside what appeared to be a large, pear shaped, red diamond. Placing his hands on the surface and leaning forward he could see that the library appeared to have a storm inside as a river of red whirled around and crashed against the walls.  
><em>'Shinichi, stay calm while I deal with this. If you struggle you'll get burnt,'<em> Pandora's voice came from all around and the host nodded, trusting the jewel to know what he was doing until he could ask what was going on and slowly watched how the storm grew calmer until it began sinking into the floor.

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><p>All sounds came back when the light faded and Kaito opened his eyes as he heard a gun clatter to the ground, seeing how Shinichi's body fell and threw himself up to catch him. The thief lowered his boyfriend the few centimetres to the ground and pushed his hands over the wound in the shoulder, seeing it bleed the most. Glancing over the crowd of officers he saw that they were in shock from the complete turn of events that hadn't taken more than a minute or two, and that they weren't sure what they should do since their job was catching Kaitou KID, but the thief was helping a detective.<p>

"Maasaki! Help Hiro stop the bleeding!" Kaito commanded in a demanding voice, seeing the man blink before he did as he was told. "Ryota! Call an ambulance! Make sure that it's a helicopter! I don't care if they've already sent out a car, get a helicopter! If Vermouth hit Hiro or Shinichi badly they can die within minutes!" he continued and watched the man do as he was told. "Yasuo! See if there's a doctor in the crowd!" the thief threw his small mike to the man that caught it. "Takao! Help me with Shinichi's leg! Keiichi! Help Nakamori! Kohaku! Is the fence still there?!" The man spun around and then called out a negative answer. "Good, then take the rest of the officers that aren't injured and drive the crowd away. I want the helicopter to be able to land!"

"Wow, KID," Nakamori commented in a slurred voice, high on adrenalin, "you sure know how to order people around."  
>"I learnt from you," Kaito stated and watched how Yasuo came running with five people.<br>"Doctors," the taskforce member stated and then ran to help with driving the crowd away. The thief reluctantly moved away a bit and allowed two of the doctors to take care of his boyfriend, sending a glance to the large screen and saw that Hakuba was taking care of the wound on the author's leg while Isamu, Ran and Sonoko were freeing the other two after having broken their promise to stay inside the room.  
>"Kai," came a whisper through the many sounds and the thief immediately jerked his head towards the detective, meeting blue eyes, "KID, tell Kaito, that I love him." One of the doctors hushed him and Shinichi sent him an irritated glance. "I know how rotten my chance of survival is so don't you dare fucking hush me!" the detective growled and made the doctor shake his head as he answered with something that Kaito couldn't hear.<p>

"Don't say that, Meitantei. You have to live, okay?" the thief forced a smile to his lips, hiding the roaring feelings that wanted him to beg the doctors to make his detective well, but the bandage that the taskforce always had on the scene was being used to make Shinichi look as if he might be just fine, "who else will protect my taskforce from certain death?"  
>"Baaroo," the detective mumbled tiredly, already numb from the pain, "just tell him that he was the best and most important that I ever had in my life. I want him to know, in case I die. And tell my parents that they are completely insane, but still the best."<br>"I don't want to," the thief answered, receiving a shocked look from Nakamori, and shook his head slowly, hearing the helicopter coming closer, "please, don't die. Don't make me do things I don't want to do." The detective grunted a bit as one of the doctors took a firmer grip into his shoulder.

"KID, you know what?" Shinichi asked with a quiet hiss, listening to the helicopter far away, "you're an idiot..."  
>"Aw," the thief tilted his head, making the detective grimace towards him.<br>"And blood spatter doesn't suit you well," he remarked and made the thief look down on himself, before he seemed to just tear his clothes off and made them vanish into thin air, replacing the hat with a cap and a hid his face with sunglasses and a dark hood.  
>"Better?" Kaito asked and tried smiling.<p>

Shinichi muttered to himself before the large emergency helicopter showed up and began to land where the taskforce directed it to. Kaito worriedly watched how his boyfriend was placed on a stretcher and in an inattentive moment he took a seat beside the pilot, making the man frown at him.  
>"I'm coming with you," Kaito stated with a smile, "whether I have to hold on to the outside or not."<br>"KID, I'm assuming," the pilot answered with a shrug, "just don't touch the controls, this is a bit different from your wing." The thief only nodded as an answer, not bothering to tell the man that he could fly a helicopter just as well as he could fly an airliner.

Kaito watched how Hiro was placed behind the pilot with two of the doctors from the crowd helping him, carefully supervised by one of the emergency doctors; a man that obviously knew the male doctor that was holding back the bleeding as the woman gave him a shot. Nakamori was helped inside and seated beside his colleague before Shinichi was carried inside, quickly followed by the two doctors that had helped him in the crowd.  
>"Go!" one of them called out to the pilot and the slowly rotating blades began moving faster, allowing them to take off and Kaito watched in worry how an seemingly unconscious Shinichi was given a shot, but the detective answered questions when the doctors asked, which made the thief feel a bit better, unaware that Shinichi wasn't fully conscious as he was slipping in and out of the jewel in the library waiting for Pandora to release him completely.<p>

"Finally," the gem sighed in his own world and Shinichi watched the structure that surrounded him disappear as Pandora took shape in front of him, beginning to explain before he even asked, "Vermouth gave me an unbelievable large amount of power, no human should have that much, and I have no idea why she did."

The detective opened his eyes, feeling how the pain was becoming more dulled, before something flashed before his eyes and he threw his uninjured arm up to protect his face.  
>"Don't move!" a doctor called out and grabbed into the detective's arm, pulling it away from his face, "help me hold him!" Kaito watched in horror how Shinichi was held down by three doctors as he struggled against them.<br>'No. Go away,' Kaito read in his boyfriend's lips as Shinichi saw distorted faces before him, faces he didn't know, but still classed as 'friend', 'alley', 'enemy' and 'dangerous' without knowing them.

The man than was helping Nakamori flew up, while holding onto Kaito's seat and then pulled open a hatch from the ceiling, making a mask fall down above the detective and one of the doctors placed it over his face, slowly making him stop struggling.  
>"What's going on?" Kaito demanded to know.<br>"Just a bad reaction to the pain reliever," the man that had pulled down the hatch answered and went back to helping the inspector.  
>"But it can't be," the doctor that had given Shinichi the shot stated firmly and Kaito listened as the doctors began debating, "he's been given this before. I got it confirmed when I called the hospital!"<p>

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><p>Shinichi could hear the sound of the water before he opened his eyes and found himself standing on a small strip of sand beside a small lake surrounded by a forest and he sent a glance around, seeing Pandora stand beside him and allowed him to understand that he wasn't awake.<br>"What's this, Pandora?" Shinichi wondered and eyed the colours; if they were in the jewel's world it would've been red. The gem frowned a bit, but then shrugged.  
>"It's not a dream, because those are fuzzy in the edges, and it's not my world, so I have no idea what's going on," Pandora remarked and then turned around as he heard a child's laughter. The both of them watched how a small girl around eight years in a blue dress and with golden locks came running through the forest. The girl stopped under a large oak beside the water and tied her long dress around her waist before she pulled out a green gem and waded out into the water.<p>

"Come on, Pandora! Would you like to bathe?" the girl dipped the jewel into the water and giggled. Shinichi sent Pandora an amused glance, seeing that the jewel was blinking confused.  
>"Maybe one of your memories?" the detective suggested quietly and watched Pandora frown.<br>"Judging by her clothes I'd say ancient Greece, and it can't be my memories," the jewel stated and gestured to the green emerald, "it's all in colour. I would see the world in red since I don't have a host."

"Correct," an amused voice stated from behind them and made them turn around.  
>"Vermouth," Shinichi gasped as the woman walked up to them while Pandora stared at her in shock.<br>"If it's not your memory, and not Cool Guy's memory, then whose could it _possibly_ be?" the woman mused and mockingly held a hand to her chin.  
>"It's yours," Pandora stated and narrowed his eyes, "how can you even be here?"<br>"You wonder how I can be here, standing beside you and your host and not how I could possibly have memories from, as you just said, ancient Greece?"

Both the jewel and host stared at the smiling woman until realisation hit them.  
>"You're immortal," Shinichi commented, "and you've come to kill me? Or Pandora?"<br>"Not anymore, Cool Guy, I'm simply the ghost of a memory of a human that once lived. I was previously a part of Pandora. I'm the last imprint in the power he shredded; the last thought of the woman who died, and her last wish."

The memory imprint of Vermouth tilted her head with a smile and the jewel stared at her.  
>"You mean that you're a tear?" Shinichi wondered intrigued.<br>"Yes, merely a container filled with power. Once a tear is given away only Pandora can destroy it, which is why Vermouth placed the small pieces of Pandora's protective shield on the bullets and on the gun, so that she would know when to focus on the power. She wanted you to know that you meant a lot to her, because you made her remember the time when she was young, when human life mattered to her."

The scene shifted and they were standing by a large table set with dish after dish of food where a pregnant woman, looking just like Vermouth sat, smiling as she spoke with her children and husband. "He was a somewhat powerful man, her husband," the Vermouth that stood beside them stated, "her father managed to keep it a secret that she was not of his blood, and that she therefore couldn't wake Pandora, but she lived a happy life. She had a daughter and four sons, but her fifth son, Isak, almost killed her."

The world around them blurred and then revealed Vermouth in her bed, getting taken care of by a maid while her daughter and two of her sons were by her side. "She was very ill and her father asked Pandora to help her. He said that the tear would heal her, but it would also give her a very long life, and if she wanted to end it she would have to come back to him, or wait until the power ran out," the memory informed while they watched as the man that had been sitting by the dinner table came in with a golden box. The man shooed out the children and the maid, and then sat down on the bed with his tired wife before he opened the lid and pushed a tiny red gem between her lips. "Pandora was losing his memory back then and it got even worse after we separated. He sometimes didn't even remember his own name, calling himself Adárian, before he reverted back to Pandora, but then came the war..."

The memory imprint made a gesture with its hand, making them stand on streets covered in blood, with children, soldiers and women lying dead around them. "Her sons fell in battle, protecting the city, but it was futile. The assaulting army was too strong and invaded, killing everyone but the young, unmarried girls; they were taken as spoils of war, together with gold, silver and anything the army could carry with them. She never saw her daughter get killed, but she was married, and she knew that everyone she held dear had been killed while she was taken as a price and kept in a cage, forced to sing for the amusement of the king."

The world shifted again and they were standing beside a cage in a large hall where Vermouth sang as men of high status were eating from a large table. "She never aged, and the king was baffled, asking her to share the secret, but she never did. She was tortured relentlessly as he grew older. After his death, after his son took over, she was placed back into the cage, waiting for someone to save her." The decorating and Vermouth's clothes changed, and the group watched as who appeared to be the new king practiced fencing with his son.

"She was believed to be a siren, because of her beauty, ability to sing and her apparent immortality. She wished for death, and waited for it for generations, but one day she managed to flee after a young prince decided to try to steal a hair from her. She strangled him and began her ruthless search for Pandora as a person who despised humanity. She murdered her way to information, dying on multiple occasions by the hands of others, but the tear always did what it had been told; heal her. For the tear has no intelligence or understanding, it simply did what Pandora instructed it to do. She searched for hundreds of years, and then found him, but as the time had passed he'd fallen asleep and she had no way of waking him; it lies in the genes, you see."

"But then she crossed path with a man, a very famous man. Julius Caesar was his name, and he awakened Pandora, but the jewel was too confused to know what she wanted him to do. Pandora had simply forgotten how to take back the life he'd given, so she tried many ways. Julius held the jewel in his hand and killed her, but she came back. She tried sharpening the edges of Pandora's shield, getting a few pieces that fell off, saving them in case she ever needed them, but it didn't work. Pandora was taken out in battle, to show that the gods favoured Caesar, and Pandora slowly got back his memories, but not the ones she wanted him to have," the memory imprint of Vermouth explained and made Shinichi feel nauseous as he remembered a woman holding him in her hand as she sliced the throat of a young man only for her to throw the body on top of what could be his dead family. The woman had looked at him with pleading eyes before he watched her put the entire farm on fire, leaving the bodies in a pile.

"She gave up and watched the times change painfully slow, until one day she was confused by how quickly years went by and how fast a human life was created, lived and then extinguished. The human lifespan became to her like a sigh, only moments before it never existed. She watched the technology change and began to hope that one day it would be good enough to kill her. She worked for a grandfather of Anokata and allowed them to begin experimenting on her, but it wasn't until Sherry's parents started that they even began to remotely understand what was going on. They found the predecessor of Apoptoxin 4869 in her body, a toxin so dangerous that it killed all humans, but Anokata didn't want a poison; he wanted the eternity, so they told her that they needed to experiment to see why it was keeping her alive, and she trusted them. For a long time they told her nothing and her trust began to fade, so one day she broke in and checked their results." The imprint began to flicker before it continued. "Her DNA didn't match that of a human's, the tear had changed her and ever since she saw your eyes she feared that you too might be changing." Shinichi watched how Pandora closed his eyes and began to glow in a weak light as the image of Vermouth disappeared. Large cracks opened in the ground before the world turned red and then formed into the familiar library.

"You have the same DNA as when I revived you," Pandora stated with a relieved sigh and looked around, "and we're currently in intensive care."  
>"And we're doing well?" Shinichi questioned hopefully, not able to get the picture of the thief's worried eyes out of his head and heard the begging voice in his head. 'Please, don't die.'<br>"Don't know," the jewel answered quietly as his host made his way to the settee to lie down, "they're working hurriedly."

There was a long uncomfortable silence as Pandora took a seat by the desk, seeing flashes of Vermouth's life in front of his eyes, and of the people she'd killed. He knew that Shinichi was seeing them too, going by how he frowned and twitched from time to time, as a particularly painful way of dying flashed past his sight. Shivers ran along Pandora's spine as he relived the dark ages when Vermouth had been burnt at the stake multiple times in different countries in belief that she was a demon and a witch. Shinichi retched as he remembered waking up among rotting corpses and being forced to dig his way out from under the amount of dead that had been tossed over the woman.

Shinichi lay frozen on the settee while Pandora sat equally tense by the desk, seeing flashes of memories and began to understand why Vermouth had done what she had done to achieve the goals that she wanted. Her life had been happy and simple before the war, but became an endless struggle after it.  
>"We're done," Pandora said loudly and Shinichi twitched before he stared at the jewel.<br>"Done?"  
>"Yes, they are putting us in a sterile room now, because of the fact that our immune system 'vanished' once. We're stable, but that could change any moment. We're not allowed to see anyone and we'll be held under strong observation from the nurses," the jewel explained after a few hours of surgery and got up, sensing that the memory flashes had finally subsided. He hesitated a second before he walked over to his host and sat down beside him, refusing to look at him.<p>

"I'm sorry, Shinichi," Pandora whispered and dug his fingers into his hair as he leaned his elbows on his knees, "I'm sorry for everything I've put you through, and for everything I've ever done." The detective smiled a bit sadly and then pulled the gem down to the settee so that they could seek comfort in the others presence.  
>"Don't dwell on the past; it is what it is and nothing will change it. People have died for you, and I know how you feel since I'm feeling it too. I understand."<br>"Because of me, _you_ had to kill," Pandora whispered in return and grabbed into the arm that was holding him close, feeling his own and his host's distress at that fact.  
>"It's in the past," Shinichi murmured, knowing that he didn't quite feel that way, and wrapped the jewel into a tighter hug, "but looking at it logically; we did the right thing. We were forced to choose between one death or hundreds."<br>"You know that you can't lie to me, and yet you try, but that is what everyone will think... You know just as well as I that we would've taken that shot even if it was just for Kaito, or just for mom, or dad."  
>"Shut up and help me justify it," Shinichi muttered and buried his face in the other's neck.<br>"She wanted to die, and I still don't remember how to take back a tear, other than using someone else's body to kill them..." Pandora mumbled to himself, not really helping the detective. Shinichi knew that he wouldn't have been able to save anyone any other way than to kill Vermouth. The fact that he was forced to choose; Kill one, or let many die, wasn't helping him either.

Silence spread between them as none of them moved, until Shinichi remembered what Pandora had said earlier.  
>"Vermouth had power, power she gave to you," the teenager whispered in the jewels neck, feeling Pandora stroke his hand with his thumb, "what happened to it?"<br>"I absorbed it, and will now live for a very long time before I die," he whispered and closed his eyes, feeling how worry stirred in his host, "but I won't give away that power to you. You will die after a normal human life, and I'll probably go to sleep."  
>"So you'll be buried with me?" Shinichi asked a bit disturbed.<br>"Yes, I'll outlive you with hundreds of years, or thousands... All because of that power," Pandora answered and turned around so that he could bury his face in his host's chest, "please don't force me to think about that."  
>"I won't," Shinichi whispered and held the jewel close, feeling his distress at the thought of being completely alone, "let's just heal for now, and deal with heavy stuff later, when we can hold Kaito, and our parents, and feel that it was right."<p>

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><p>AN: So I really have to begin studying again since we have a couple of tests coming up and I've been neglecting the homework as usual, but the stuff we're doing is so simple that it's painful... So I have to study before I'm allowed to write anymore.


	65. The Nurse and The Dove

A/N: These past two weeks sure feels like an eternity! And I'm so busy-busy-busy!

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness<p>

Spoiler to:  
>Episode 11 Moonlight Sonata Murder Case<br>Episode 128 The Black Organization: One Billion Yen Robbery Case  
>Episode 521-523 Murderer, Shinichi Kudou<p>

Uploaded: 2013-01-22  
>Revised: 2014-09-17<br>Chapter rating: T  
>Words: 3,200<p>

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><p><strong>Chap. 65<br>The Nurse and The Dove**

Shinichi was forced into isolation because of what had happened once to his immune before, and he watched the world outside the glass pass by in a drug induced haze while the only noise he could hear clearly was the beeping and humming of the machines. He was constantly plagued by nightmares that made his heart speed up and caused him wake up in a panicked disorientation with nurses standing over him, fearing that he was going to have a cardiac arrest. In a moment of clarity Pandora had informed him that they had switched drug to one that allowed him to sleep a dreamless sleep, but it made his disorientation worse. Sometimes he didn't know where he was, and only managed to keep calm because the jewel could inform him. Shinichi was pretty sure that he'd seen his mother through the glass, standing there and waving at him, but he wasn't certain if she'd been there for a few minutes or if she'd been there for hours. In his head he wasn't even certain if he'd been in a glass cage for a few days or if he'd been there for months or years before he was moved to an ordinary room, since both of the alternatives seemed just as likely.

With a quiet sigh he stared up at the hospital ceiling. The sun outside the window was setting and no one had visited him during the day, making him feel abandoned and forgotten. After a lot of debating with Pandora he'd decided that he'd been there for around two months in total, and in his own room for around a week, but it was hard to know exactly, especially when his own confusion was rubbing off on the jewel.

With a second new drug his mind wasn't as clouded as it had once been and allowed him to torture himself by worrying. His parents hadn't come to visit him, but that wasn't as surprising as the fact that his boyfriend was also absent; what if the third bullet had struck him? Was he dead, or in worse condition than himself?  
>Shinichi sighed in his own mind and stared at the orange sky, knowing that Kaito hadn't had any bullet wound, but why hadn't he shown up yet? Shinichi couldn't even remember seeing the thief outside of the glass either. What if Kaito hated him now? What if he couldn't bear the thought of being together with a murderer?<br>The detective's jaw clenched as he gritted his teeth, remembering the heist without losing any details, and swallowed the lump in his throat. Being a murderer, that he could bear even though he knew that he would never forget; it wasn't the first death he was guilty of anyway, but knowing that Kaito hated him for it, that was something that made his heart want to tear itself out of his chest and stomp itself to death, unless it actually managed to strangle itself first, inside his chest.

A small wince escaped his lips and betrayed how close to breaking down he really was, but he forced it all away; mourning he could do after he came in contact with the thief and gotten it confirmed, after that he could beg him to not leave. Shinichi's mind worked quicker than ever with painting up scenarios; everything from possible and logical ones to the illogical and horrifying ones, but almost everyone with a bad outcome.

"Kudou-sama," a voice came from the door and Shinichi slowly turned his head towards a kind-looking nurse that he'd seen earlier, "time to sleep. It's already eleven." The detective blinked and threw a glance out the window, seeing that the sky was completely dark and only the moon was visible.  
>"Is everything okay?" the woman continued and he sighed.<br>"I'm alive," he mumbled as an answer and stared up in the ceiling while he heard her enter.  
>"Can I get you anything?"<br>"My boyfriend," Shinichi answered in an indifferent tone, hiding his worry while knowing that she couldn't do that, and made the woman chuckle.  
>"I meant water, or a blanket," the nurse walked up to him and checked something on the devices that he was hooked up to, allowing him to study her, "are you in any pain?"<br>"No, I'm fine," he stated in the same voice, noting things about the woman's personal life and marriage.

"Hey, cheer up. I know about everything that happened at the heist, but you'll get thought it. I know you will."  
>"Coming from a family of police officers you've probably heard of the usual troubles, and knows of the nightmares," Shinichi stated and made the woman's eyes widen, "your mother, father and brother were officers, right?"<br>"Yes..." she blinked a bit confused but then smiled carefully.  
>"I'm worried because I haven't seen Kaito around, even though I've seen mom. How's dad?"<br>"He's fine and laughs at the fact that his publishers can't get to him. He did however try to sneak into your room earlier today, with the help of your mother, or so I've been told," the woman winked at him, "and I wouldn't be surprised if your boyfriend shows up tomorrow morning, so get some rest so that the day shift won't have to turn him away because you're sleeping." The woman walked over to the window and was about to pull the curtains closed, when he stopped her.

"Please, leave them open," he begged and the nurse smiled at him before she nodded and walked over to the door.  
>"Now get some sleep," she said as she turned off the weak lights and Shinichi stared at her, "and if you utilise that nasty habit of running away from the hospital I will ask my father to lend me his cuffs. You two have met a few times and I doubt that he would refuse me if I told him that they were going to be used to keep you in your hospital bed." The detective raised an amused eyebrow, recognising which officer in the second division that was her father due to her genetic markers.<br>"I won't, and say hello to Hotaka-san for me,"  
>"Good, I see that your brain still works despite all the drugs you've been given, Kudou-sama," the woman smirked and Shinichi was thankful for the interruption she had caused since his thoughts had been spinning towards darker and darker places.<p>

He tried to sleep, he honestly did, but he'd been sleeping so much during the day and done nothing else so his brain just refused to stop thinking. Hotaka's daughter came by an hour later and stuck her head inside, so he closed his eyes and pretended, but the young woman had just smiled and told him to try sleeping, apparently she could read the machines good enough to know when someone was faking being asleep.

Shinichi must've fallen asleep for a while, because when he opened his eyes the moon outside the window had moved. Feeling completely awake he stared at the table beside him, hoping to find a book, but there were only a few old 'get well' cards that he'd seen from the other side of the glass. He reached out his right arm, and poked down the ones from the taskforce so that they fell to the floor and opened one from his parents, seeing that it was just his mother's normal gushing. Shinichi dropped it to the floor and took up a white one, happily realising that it was from Kaito and opened it, sighing as there were no riddle to amuse him with, but still took it to his bed for comfort; at least his boyfriend had left him a card even though he hadn't shown up.

"Cute," a smooth and amused whisper came and Shinichi jolted his head in the direction, hearing his heartbeat speed up from the small scare, but as his eyes caught the person in a white mantle, suit and hat he calmed down.  
>"Kai," he gasped happily, and kept his eyes to the thief as he dropped the card in the bed and reached out his unharmed arm, wanting the teenager to come closer to him, "you're here."<br>"I am," the thief smiled at his vulnerable-looking boyfriend as he walked up to him and took his hand, "how are you feeling?"  
>"I'm fine," Shinichi smiled as he felt the silk glove against his skin, "and you're looking absolutely stunning." Kaito raised an amused eyebrow at the detective, hearing that he wasn't completely clear-headed, but Shinichi only smiled at his thief as the moonlight seeped in through the window, "I missed you, as in really, <em>really<em>, missed you."

"I was so worried about you that I haven't gotten any sleep while you were in here," Kaito whispered and caressed Shinichi's hand with his thumb.  
>"Then you'd be dead," the teenager muttered under his breath; a sentence that the thief didn't hear, or read as his eyes were more focused on the pale skin of his detective's hand and arm.<br>"You'll be allowed guests tomorrow morning, so I'll come by," the thief informed and watched as Shinichi pulled his gloved hand to his mouth.  
>"I never knew that you were a stickler for rules, <em>KID<em>, I expected you to show up outside of my cage, or try breaking into my room, like dad."  
>"Well, <em>I <em>have broken in successfully," Kaito stated as the detective took a light bit into the tip of the glove's middle finger and allowed him to pull the glove off. A smile played on the magician's lips while his cheeks grew rosy when Shinichi kissed his hand and playfully took a finger into his mouth.  
>"You missed me that much?" Kaito smirked amused as he freed his hand to caress his boyfriend's cheek instead and heard the teenager hum contently at the contact as he sat down beside him.<p>

Amaya, the daughter of Hotaka, stopped beside the detective's door and glanced in through the small spring, thinking that he was talking to himself as a few patients had bad reactions to drugs, but she froze as she saw Kaitou KID sitting by his bed, caressing the detective's cheek in a loving way.  
>"You don't hate me, do you?" the detective asked hopefully, "I had all these horrible pictures in my mind, but judging by your actions, you're not mad."<br>"How could I ever hate you?"  
>"I broke the rules..."<br>"But you had no choice-,"  
>"You <em>always<em> have a choice-,"  
>"Between one death and hundreds, or thousands?" the thief shook his head with a frown, "no, that's no choice." A heavy silence fell between them and Shinichi placed his hand over the thief, keeping it to his cheek.<p>

"How do you feel?" Kaito wondered quietly, knowing that the detective had deflected his attention away from it for a moment.  
>"I'm fine,"<br>"No, you're not. Talk to me," the thief demanded and Shinichi sighed.  
>"I did the right thing. She wanted to die and killing her would save everyone else, and it's not the first death that I'm responsible for," the injured teenager confessed making Kaito blink shocked.<br>"What?" he questioned stunned and the detective gave him a wary smile.

"Sherry's sister was one of those people; if I had paid more attention I could've prevented her death. The same goes for Narumi Asai, or Seiji Asou, as his real name was. If I hadn't been foolish enough to not bring backup he wouldn't have thrown me out the window and put the entire place on fire. And the third; Okuda Makoto. If I hadn't run off after solving the case, if I had stayed and explained to him, made sure that he understood what had happened he wouldn't have ruined his life, tried to kill a reporter and tried to blame me. So simple... Why didn't I just focus, or why didn't I just stop and explain? For a detective who uses his deductive powers to corner a suspect and then does nothing to stop them from committing suicide, is no better than a murderer himself..."

Kaito gaped at the detective's revelation and painfully saw that Shinichi truly saw his inability to stop a murder as the same as to pick up a gun and take someone's life.  
>"Shinichi, my dear detective," he winced and cupped his boyfriend's face, unable to say anything more comforting, so he just dove in of a kiss, trying to convey all his love for him, and trying to make the detective feel something other than sorrow. Shinichi desperately responded with throwing his right arm around the thief's neck and deepening it, ignoring how he could hear his heart rate intensively quickening from the machine's beeping and only concentrated on the heat that ran through him as Kaito's tongue danced with his own.<p>

Amaya gasped in shock and threw a hand over her mouth as she watched a detective and a thief kiss, not even breaking for air; she wasn't going to interrupt their talking because the detective could technically have visitors and she didn't think that she could possibly overpower someone as strong and agile as Kaitou KID. However, as she gasped Kaito's eyebrows twitched in annoyance; he now had work to do, but as he tried to pull away Shinichi whimpered and ran a hand through his hair, making the hat fall off of his head so he simply pushed back until he felt the detective's arm loosen. He carefully pulled away, listening to any sounds from the corridor, and picked up his hat as he snapped his fingers, conjuring up a dove, mounted with a tracker, which he whispered to and then threw up in the air, watching it fly to the door and made it slide open as it landed on the handle.

The nurse paled and silently backed away as the dove, Michi, landed on the floor beside her.  
>"What was that all about?" the detective wondered baffled as he stared at the empty doorway.<br>"A magician's secret," the thief chuckled and distracted his boyfriend by kissing him; Shinichi didn't need any more worry added to his already heavy burden. Amaya continued backing away and saw that the dove kept hopping after her, staring at her intensely, as if it wondered if she was going to do the same vanishing act as its owner sometimes did. After getting a few meters away, the woman turned around and ran on light steps, but as she threw a glance back she saw that the dove was still following her, but now in flight, and she quickly realised that the thief had not seen her face, so all she needed to do was lose the bird.

Amaya snuck into the changing room and closed the door behind herself, but knowing that the owner would show up sooner or later even if the bird didn't get inside she hid inside her locker. The door handle wobbled a few times before the door slid open, and she realised to her horror that the dove could actually open doors as the only thing she could hear was the cooing of it as it landed on the floor just inside.

Michi flew through the room and then into the shower room before she came back and circled. The young woman held her breath as the bird landed beside the lockers and then waited a few moments before it flew out of the door. Taking a shuddering breath Amaya decided to run away while the dove most likely was fetching its owner, so she opened the locker and looked around, seeing that she was completely alone. She smiled relieved and got out, only for the door to slam shut just in front of her and something to move in the corner of her eye. Spinning around she came face to face with the phantom thief, seeing him smirk at her.

"Good evening," he said in a slightly different voice and Amaya laughed a bit nervously as she took a step away from him, ending up standing with her back to the door, "it seems like we have a problem that needs solving."  
>"We do?" she asked and tried to smile innocently, but the thief seemed unfazed.<br>"Yes," KID stated and to her confusion sat down and patted the bench beside him, so she nervously walked up to him and sat down beside him.

"I know your identity," Amaya stated quietly as she placed her hands in her lap, sending a glance to the thief, "unless Kudou-sama is together with both you and Kuroba-san, but he's not the kind to cheat or to actually be in that kind of relationship, not if what I've heard from my father is right."  
>"Exactly, and thereof our problem," the thief mumbled and the nurse turned to him, seeing that he now was looking at her, "because I highly doubt that you'd believe that Shinichi and Kaito have an agreement that allows Shinichi to have a questionable relation to me."<p>

"You're right. I wouldn't believe that, but as we're speaking I have nothing but my word against Kuroba-san's, and after what I've read in the newspapers; he has both Hakuba-san and Kudou-sama on his side," Amaya smiled at the sharp eyes that scrutinised her.  
>"True, but it's still worrisome. If enough people starts to believe that Kuroba is KID, it'll be trouble, and what's even worse; Shinichi will get huge problems, and if he doesn't want to go underground he could never be a detective again, now, if I didn't go into hiding I'd be thrown in jail for the rest of my life, and if we both ran away we'd be living on the run. Not only that, but his parents and my mother would be in trouble. It's not a future that I wish to explore. Do you understand?"<br>"Yes," she resisted the urge to giggle as KID looked serious; she'd never seen the thief other than with a confident smile on his face, and seeing him serious made her want to snicker uncontrollably and she didn't even know why, "and you don't have to worry, after I've snuck a peak on you when you're coming to visit tomorrow I won't bother you. I am a KID-fan after all, and I wouldn't want my idol to go away, even though you're way too young to be the first Kaitou KID." She jokingly nudged him a bit with her elbow and saw him smile.

"I shall entrust my secret to you then," the thief stated and slid down on one knee on the floor as he took her hand and gave it a kiss, "guard it well." KID grinned happily, and as he turned her hand around and stood up he placed her mobile in it. "I was surprised when I found no pictures or recordings, so it really is your word against mine, and I'm an excellent liar that would never confess to this," the magician vanished in a puff of smoke and Amaya stared at the phone in her hand, knowing that she'd had it in her locker and that she wasn't even allowed to bring it around the hospital, but not only that; it was password protected.

When Kaito got back to the room had his boyfriend already fallen asleep, so the thief watched him for a while before he headed home to get a few moments of rest before he would return for the morning when he was allowed to visit as Kuroba Kaito.


	66. Fire and Water

A/N: Wow! This chapter was so hard to write! Mainly because I actually didn't actually want to write it... The end is here!  
>Sorry about not updating Twisted Path, and I haven't even begun writing the next chapter yet... ^^'' and I don't know if I'll have time to write anything for a while...<p>

Should I put all stories on hiatus? How long is a hiatus break?

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness, Choppy chapter<p>

Uploaded: 2013-02-07  
>Revised: 2014-09-17<br>Chapter rating: T  
>Words: 3,700<p>

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><p><strong>Chap. 66<br>Fire and Water**

Kaito paced back and forth, seeing the many strangers that were there to meet their beloved or their friend. Aoko was there to see her father again, as soon as he woke up and accepted visitors. Hakuba was standing beside her with his golden watch in his hands, staring at it intensely, while Ran, Isamu, Sonoko, Shinichi's mother and about the entire taskforce were waiting to meet their superior, Hiro and Shinichi, even a few reporters had dared to enter, and Kaito was sure that he would throw them out headfirst if they got even remotely close to his love. The thief narrowed his eyes at the group that was both sitting and standing while small talking to each other, knowing that they wouldn't be allowed to enter all at once. Aoko and most of the taskforce left as Nakamori and Hiro began accepting guests and Kaito anxiously waited until he saw the nurse that he'd met during the night exit from within the hospital and walked up to the reception. The second nurse that she was speaking with pointed to their group, before handing her a newspaper and Kaito raised an amused, mental eyebrow; the woman obviously knew who wanted to visit Shinichi, but she was using precautions to appear to not be aware.

"So, are all of you going to visit Kudou-sama?" Amaya asked with a small frown, seeing how the group sent glances to each other, "I'll only let three or four in at the same time, and I have to warn you, Kudou-sama might be a bit stingy." The woman gave them a smile that hid her tiredness and then left, knowing that only a few people would follow; the ones who considered themselves closest to him.

"Why's he stingy?" Kaito asked as they got inside and sent a glance around himself, seeing that it only was he, Yukiko and Ran that had followed.  
>"The drugs he's been given made him unable to tell time correctly," Amaya began after she sent him a curious glance, "we have informed him that he's been at the hospital for approximately two weeks, and he was unwilling to accept the truth at first, thinking that he'd been abandoned, and therefore refused to accept any visitors for the last hour, until we convinced him otherwise. I was hoping that his closest family could somehow make him believe us, since the drug made him distrustful of anyone other than Rie-san that works the dayshift and me who works the nights. He is also experiencing a great deal of paranoia so Kasai-sensei's debating whether they're going to change his medication or simply just lower the dose."<p>

"He's paranoid?" Kaito blinked and stared at the woman in shock, seeing her nod as they passed through corridor after corridor, before they got to the elevator.  
>"Yes, not much, but he's been manipulating everyone in the staff so that no one wants to enter his room, and from time to time they've heard him talking to himself. I'm bringing him a newspaper so that he can look at the date, but I doubt that he'll believe it."<p>

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><p>"It's obviously a recording! Are you <em>trying<em> to insult my intelligence?!" Shinichi's irritated voice came from an open door as the group neared the detective's room.  
>"Here, take the remote," a female voice answered.<br>"It won't help! The only thing it does is switching to other recordings that are being played at the same time!"  
>"Kudou-sama, why would I do that?"<br>"To make me eat your poisoned food!"  
>"If I wanted you dead I could just inject you with poison."<br>"But that would leave a needle mark, and Hattori and Hakuba would find out the truth!"  
>"You're connected to a drip! I wouldn't need to pierce your skin with anything!"<br>"You just don't want to feel too responsible! And putting poison in my drip would leave traces on the inside of the bag!"

"Could you wait out here for a moment," Amaya asked with a smile and then went inside, seeing that the detective was glaring at the bag of blood that was hanging from the pole, as if he was wondering whether to tear it away or leave it as it was, since it was half-full, and if it contained toxin he'd been poisoned already.  
>"Kudou-sama, be nice to Kumiko-san, she's trying to help."<br>"She poisoned my breakfast!" the detective growled and glared angrily at the porridge and the two cups of jello that had been placed in front of him.

"Kasai-sensei decided to lower his dosage, but didn't care that I was the one who had to force pills down _his_ throat," Kumiko sighed tiredly to Amaya, "I think that he'd bite me if I tried, so I simply mashed them up and placed them in his porridge; a bad idea."  
>"What kind of pills?" the young woman questioned.<br>"Just regular painkillers,"  
>"That's what she wants you to think," Shinichi muttered from his bed and stared grumpily at Amaya as she walked up to his side.<br>"So, my dear detective, how did you know that it was poisoned?" the woman asked and heard how Kumiko opened the window a notch.

"Simple, first I got jellos and other liquids, then I got jellos and small portions of porridge, always with the spoon beside the plate, but today I got it with the spoon inside the porridge, with obvious signs that it had been stirred prior to being brought here, and the only reason someone would stir my food is because something had been added to it," the detective tried to do a frustrated gesture, but ended up hissing from pain and protectively held a hand over his injured shoulder as he glared at the bandage that was visible though the collar of his hospital gown.

"Don't move your left arm! The bullet wound will take a longer time to heal if you rip it open," Kumiko stated loudly and Amaya saw the detective relax, like every time he thought someone went too far and she let out a silent sigh.  
>"Oh?" the teenager said in a complaisant voice and whipped his head up as he smiled at the older nurse, a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, "I have a bullet wound? <em>I haven't noticed!<em> How great of you to inform me! It's not like I've been in surgery, or been shot before! Where did you get your degree? In a cereal box?"  
>"Just go, arguing with him just agitates him further," Amaya sighed to her colleague and gave the detective a raised eyebrow as she grabbed into his right shoulder, making him look up at her as Kumiko left.<br>"Why's everyone treating me like I'm stupid?" he quickly defended himself.  
>"Because you're behaving like a little, spoiled brat from time to time."<br>"Brutally honest. I knew there was something I liked about you," Shinichi remarked and glared at his food, seeing Amaya's hand come into his sight as she grabbed his spoon and stirred his porridge, not noticing how Kaito curiously stuck his head inside. The detective watched the nurse take a bite of the food and then placed the spoon on the tray beside the plate, before he looked up at her.  
>"I take no responsibility for your untimely death, but I will find your killer; Kumiko," Shinichi informed before he could stop himself, and then massaged his forehead as the pain increased.<p>

"How are you feeling?" Amaya asked concerned, wondering if she should turn away his visitors, "are you too tired to have anyone come by?"  
>"Come by? Why would anyone come by? Except with intention to finish me off..." Shinichi muttered while knowing that he couldn't tell her that he was reliving memories from Vermouth's life; the same memories as before, only more vividly, but he continued before the woman could answer, "and you said that I would have visitors yesterday! But no one came..."<br>"No, Kudou-sama, it's still Wednesday," the nurse smiled patiently and placed the newspaper on his tray.

"That one could've been saved from months ago, even years, or it's just printed and completely fake," Shinichi ratted off as soon as he saw the paper, "I could go on, but I think that you get my drift, and I told you that that wouldn't convince me."  
>"Aw, Kudou-sama, you're much more agreeable when sleeping," the woman smirked and the teenager snorted before he began poking his food with a disgruntled scowl.<p>

"What if it's a slow moving poison?"  
>"Then starve to death," the nurse suggested and saw that the corners of the detective's mouth twitched amused, "but you know that I wouldn't allow that; I'll just give you another IV-bag."<br>"Yea-yea," Shinichi muttered as he took one of the small cups with jello and glared at it.  
>"Now, be nice to your visitors," Amaya whispered, "and if you get tired of them, just push the button to call Rie-san. I'll tell her to chase them out. Have a good day."<br>"Sleep tight," Shinichi grumbled and looked up towards the door, seeing his boyfriend walk inside.

"Kaito?" the teenager gasped and the thief smiled a bit, seeing complete shock in Shinichi's eyes. "What day is it?" he quickly added and Kaito blinked, knowing that he'd heard the nurse tell him before.  
>"Wednesday," he answered as Amaya left them in peace and both Ran and Yukiko entered with a smile.<br>"Really..." the detective sighed and seemingly accepting it as truth, "what's the date?"  
>"10th of April," the thief stated as he walked around to sit down beside his boyfriend.<br>"Really..." Shinichi stared at his boyfriend without showing anything but a blank expression, making Kaito's skin crawl, "how long ago did KID visit me?"  
>"A couple of hours?" Kaito answered quietly as both Ran and Yukiko sat down on the chairs on the other side of the bed.<p>

"I'm assuming that Ran-chan knows who KID is if you actually answered that one," Yukiko smiled sadly as she looked at her baby-boy's fragile state, seeing his injuries in worry.  
>"I do know," Ran whispered and got up to close the door.<br>"Ran, could you step out for a moment?" Shinichi suddenly asked and sent his childhood friend a begging gaze, "I need to speak with mom and Kaito about something... It's personal." Ran smiled and then left after she nodded.

"Okay," Shinichi whispered and sent a glance to the window, making sure that no one was there, even though he was fully aware that he was at least three floors up, "you both need to hear this, now that I have full control over myself. I'm not paranoid. I don't hallucinate, and I'm not insane; it will all pass, and it's not because of the drugs." Both Kaito and Yukiko leaned forward so that they were able to pick up every word.

"Long ago Pandora shed a tear, and Khryseis, I mean Vermouth, ate it. She gained what could be considered eternal life. She lived on and tried to find a way to end it all, but failed on multiple occasions. She was tortured, killed and still lived on, and I'm reliving some of her memories, and the pain I feel is increasing, so can someone please make them give me something stronger; I'm almost at my limit. Pandora is dealing with the power, but he's not used to control that much even though he remembers doing it. Last night, according to you," Shinichi made a gesture towards Kaito, "since my time-perspective is completely unreliable. Pandora had full control, but now he's losing it again, making me irritated and angry. When I'm reliving her memories I become less like myself, so I have no way that I can convince the doctors or nurses that I'm not insane, or reacting badly to the drugs, so now you know if I start acting even stranger, and if I say anything hurtful, please forgive me and know that I didn't mean it." Shinichi sighed and Kaito could see sorrow in his boyfriend's eyes; old, dark eyes, seemingly not supposed to belong to a teenager. He looked so tired, as it his life had been drained from him. "Mom," Shinichi continued, "you can open the door for Ran now."

"Shinichi," Kaito whispered and took the detective's hand as Yukiko got up to open the door, "I won't leave you." The thief kissed his boyfriend's hand and smiled warmly as a slight blush made its way to Shinichi's cheeks. "Always remember that I love you, and I don't care if you tell me that you hate me and want me dead, because I won't believe you. You can ask the nurses to call me since you're not allowed to use your mobile. Day, night; it doesn't matter. I will answer, and I will speak with you. You can call me every five minutes if you'd like, because I love you, and I want you to feel safe, even if you can't tell if a day, a week or a minute has gone by. How about that?" Kaito grinned and watched happiness glimmer in the detective's eyes as he nodded a little, "I'll speak with the nurses about it then." The thief cupped his boyfriend's face and then allowed a hand to dig into the silky hair, before he placed their foreheads together and looked into Shinichi's eyes. A giggle interrupted them and made Kaito send a glance to the two that he'd forgotten, seeing that Yukiko was recording them on her phone.

"Yukiko-obaasan," Kaito complained in a whiny voice and drew out the 'a' as long as he could, knowing that it would bug her, "you're an old lady acting like a five-year-old..."  
>"Watch it Kai-chan," the woman giggled lovingly, using all of her talent to not show any irritation, "I was a student of your father's so I have a few tricks up my sleeve. I usually use them on Shinichi and Yuusaku, but how fun it would be to use them on you..." The giggle turned into an evil cackle and Kaito grinned as Shinichi carefully leaned back into his pillows, silently wondering if his boyfriend and his mother would somehow destroy the house. The detective smiled quietly as he watched the two people speak in a way that hid all of their irritation as they teased each other before Rie came by with more guests, wondering how he felt and if he could handle more than three.<p>

Much to Shinichi's delight, Kaito managed to get the nurses to bring a phone into his room so that he could call his boyfriend without calling on a nurse first, and as Pandora managed to get better at controlling the power without losing grip over it Shinichi also became a nicer patient as the pain decreased. He accepted visitors every day and was even brought his homework. He stayed at the hospital for a few more weeks before he was released, but as he was unable to walk on one leg, and commanded not to, he was forced to go in a wheelchair.

As soon as the doors opened to the hospital, flashes of light almost blinded him and he kept a calm, neutral expression, wanting to look professional even though his mother was pushing him forward since his arm was in a sling.  
>"Who was the mystery shooter?" a reporter quickly fired off, and another immediately continued.<br>"Did you shoot her?"  
>"Why's her body missing?"<br>"Are you certain that you hit her?"  
>"What's your relation to her?"<br>"Why did she do it?"  
>"What was her goal?"<br>"Why attack the heist?"  
>"No comment," Shinichi answered as soon as he could and then stayed quiet, ignoring the questions that were thrown at him as he watched how the police pushed away the crowds. He knew that he would be forced to answer the questions eventually, but he wanted it to be in an environment that he controlled, so he had to wait until he went to a newspaper to get interviewed or a studio that wasn't live broadcasted, and it wasn't until school was finished and he was able to move around somewhat good on his leg that he felt that he could relax again. Shinichi was forced to use a crutch and was unable to use his left arm as the bullet had struck him badly, but he was moving around as much as his strength allowed him to.<p>

Kaito was always close, and took care of him during the days, whenever he wasn't having a silent battle with Yukiko over who was supposed to care for him the most, not that Shinichi or Yuusaku minded the ongoing battles; they could both see that the teenage magician and the retired actress had a great deal of fun trying to outdo and prank each other. However, Kaito had the advantage that Shinichi wouldn't become irritated if he tried to feed him, as long as they weren't in public.

Slowly, Kaito could see that the darkness in Shinichi's eyes disappeared, but it reappeared from time to time as a murder reminded him of the fact that he'd killed, and the detective even confessed to his boyfriend that it had been worse to pull the trigger than to fail in saving someone, because it was deliberate, and as the summer began Kaito stayed with him in their room, watching over his lover and provided the comfort he knew that Shinichi needed.

* * *

><p>Only a week after school had ended Kaito organised a small trip to Beika park where they were going to have a picnic with Hakuba, Aoko, Ran and Isamu. Shinichi made it into the park slowly, walking as steadily as he could, but he was still limping a lot. Kaito walked beside him, ready to protect his boyfriend if anyone tried to harm him, and sent an amused glance to the white cane with the shape of a diamond on the top; a birthday gift from Kaitou KID, which had showed up out of nowhere while the detective was at the police station. Kaito had been there, acting like a happy fan and forced his slightly frustrated boyfriend to use it instead of the boring grey, metal-thingy he'd gotten from the hospital.<p>

Kaito watched how the detective eased to the ground and then sat down beside him while searching the crowds of people for their friends that now were officially late.  
>"How's the shoulder?" the thief wondered with a smile as he watched how Shinichi fell to his back in the green grass and let the sunlight bathe him.<br>"Good, it just itches a bit," the black-haired teenager answered as he looked up to the clouds, knowing that it wouldn't do him any good to lie completely; his shoulder was bothering him tremendously, but his worrying boyfriend didn't need to know that, not after how Kaito had been behaving ever since a criminal tried to take revenge on Shinichi for throwing him in jail, thinking that it was a good idea to attack the detective when he was at his weakest. The man didn't even have time to touch a hair on Shinichi's head before Kaito had reacted; no one messes with the lover of an over-protective Kaitou KID, even the press kept away from the magician after the chaos that he caused and the rage he seemed to be in, even though he kept a smile on his lips, an albeit creepy smile, and if looks could kill...

"That's great," Kaito grinned at his boyfriend's calculating stare and placed the large blanket on the grass beside him before he sent a quick glance over the crowd, keeping a watchful eye out for any suspicious behaviour, and then joined the detective on the ground.  
>"Yea, it doesn't hurt as much when I try to move it," Shinichi replied and watched the thief's eyes study white clouds in the sky before he fell into a comfortable silence as they waited, and it wasn't long before they both began pointing out shapes to each other.<p>

"Look, a turtle!" Kaito grinned and made Shinichi tilt his head as he frowned up at the cloud, trying to see what his boyfriend was seeing.  
>"That's only a turtle if it has the head of a crocodile," the detective reasoned and the magician saw the mischief glinting in his boyfriend's eyes before the teenager continued, "how about a crocodile that <em>ate too much cake<em>?" Kaito blinked once and then realised what his boyfriend was saying.  
>"I'm not a fat crocodile!" he squeaked loudly, allowing the oncoming group of friends to hear him while he pretended to be upset over the taunt as Shinichi laughed.<p>

"You know," Ran smiled at them before she eyed the basket with food that she knew that Yukiko had made for them, "they are like complete opposites."  
>"Precisely what I was thinking!" Aoko smiled as the magician straddled his boyfriend and started tickling him, "I can't believe that they are actually a couple. They are so different; like fire and water!" The young woman in her company giggled while Hakuba was speaking with Isamu, and therefore didn't hear much of their conversation.<br>"Let me guess," Ran smiled as they were only a few meters away, unaware that she was allowing the magician to eavesdrop, "Kaito-kun is a wildfire and Shinichi is water."  
>"Yep, exactly what I was thinking!" Aoko exclaimed as she began unpacking the cakes she had brought.<p>

"Like fire and water, huh?" the thief mused loudly as he still sat atop his boyfriend, knowing that the detective was unable to fight him off. "But water can still be just as destructive as fire..." he remarked making the Brit force away the wish to roll his eyes as he understood that the thief was talking about the couple's night-time business.  
>"And fire doesn't necessarily need to be destructive," Shinichi smiled up at the wild-haired teenager that seemed to be in deep thought, even though the detective knew better, "just think of the lovely warmth a fireplace can give during the cold and dark winter nights."<br>"And water isn't always calm; it rushes out from a cliff without a single thought about the lonely fireplace at home," the magician's eyes were drawn to the bullet wound in the shoulder.  
>"The water remembers the lonely fireplace at home, just after it jumps and hopes that they will be reunited once more... Now, how about some cake?"<br>"Yes, cakes for everyone!" Kaito grinned, but cheerfully stayed on top of Shinichi even though the detective was glaring.  
>"No cakes for crocodiles."<br>"Ha! And then that's decided; for that comment I'll force-feed you cake, Shinichi. All the cake!"

~The End

* * *

><p>AN: Thank you for all of your support during this story. I can honestly say that I would never have been able to finish it if wasn't for you guys, or maybe it would, but not as fast! And to anyone who would like to join me in their next adventure, follow the sequel ;)  
>Although, the teacher I have in my new courses apparently loves reading homework, because with the amount he gives out he can't be doing anything else than reading it, so I will probably not begin on the sequel until in a month or so...<p> 


	67. Omake: Courtroom Confrontation

A/N: I was uncertain if I should upload this in 'Pieces of the Puzzle' or here as an omake, but to celebrate the beginning of the sequel I decided to put it here.

**Sequel to OFAW:  
>fanfiction(.net)s/9156030/1/In-the-Footsteps-of-Others**

Warnings:  
>Strange English, OOCness,<p>

Uploaded: 2013-04-12  
>Revised: 2014-09-17<br>Chapter rating: K+  
>Words: 2,700<p>

**Timeline**  
>In <strong>Chap. 41 Murder One<strong> Shinichi was accused of being the murderer and would therefore be forced to appear in court since it's a perfect opportunity for the prosecutor to gain the upper hand if there are multiple possible murderers, now this causes a complication, because of Shinichi's alibi.  
>This takes place just after <strong>Chap. 66 Of Fire and Water<strong> since I know that it can take time in court (or that's what I've heard)

* * *

><p><strong>Chap. OMAKE<br>Courtroom Confrontation:  
>The Queen of the Courtroom Vs. the Madonna of Prosecutors<strong>

Shinichi waited anxiously outside of the courtroom, counting seconds for when Kisaki Eri, Ran's mother, or for now, a woman known as the Queen of the Courtroom, called him in. Hakuba was already inside as he was explaining the way the murder had taken place, and the Detective of the East knew that it was only moments until Kujo Reiko, also known as the Madonna of Prosecutors, would've picked the deduction apart to accuse Shinichi of the murder of Etsuko Hagiwara instead of Kihara Naomi, who was her client. It was right that the system tested the suspects to know that it really was the accused that murdered the victim, but this time Shinichi was nervous for the first time he'd been in court since he would be forced to use his alibi, but only if it was no other way than that to keep him out of jail.

He knew that Kaito was there for support, mainly if he needed the alibi, but he was still there inside the courtroom, and Shinichi was afraid that someone would notice that Kaito vanished and KID appeared, but the thief had just laughed at his worry, stating that he could be on many places at the same time.

The door opened and Shinichi saw an officer nod to him. When he got up and went inside he seemed calm and threw a glance over the crowd of onlookers, seeing his boyfriend in one seat smiling a bit reassuring as he carefully limped up to the podium.

"Kudou Shinichi, you are here as a witness and have not been accused of anything yet, do you understand this?" the black-haired Kujo Reiko questioned him as soon as he'd read the oath to speak truth and he noticed the 'yet' she placed in there.  
>"Yes, I understand," the injured teenager answered with a nod.<p>

"Where were you during the murder that took place between 03:05-03:15?" the woman questioned and Shinichi swallowed.  
>"I was in my room, sleeping after being drugged," the detective lied, knowing that he had to, and avoided mentioning that he had a witness.<br>"You were tested for drugs, what was the result?"  
>"Negative,"<br>"So you have no proof that you actually were drugged?"  
>"That is correct," Shinichi said loudly and then sighed inaudibly.<br>"And how come the victim was clutching your tie in her hand and that your fingerprints were on the murder weapon?"  
>"I can't say since I was unconscious-,<br>"Allegedly," the woman cut in and Shinichi continued.  
>",-the only thing I know is detective Hakuba's deduction," the detective stated and got an idea of what the woman was doing; if she could establish reasonable doubt she would get the death penalty off the table and then she might even get a much lowered sentence.<br>"And this detective, Hakuba Saguru, that's sitting right there, is that him?" Reiko demanded to know and made a gesture behind him. Shinichi threw a glance back on the Brit.  
>"Yes,"<br>"Is he a friend of yours?"  
>"Yes,"<br>"A detective, and a friend of the number one suspect, solved this case. I'd like the jury to think about that, but not only that. Hattori Heiji, a detective and also a friend of the number one suspect, was at that crime scene," the woman stated harshly and Shinichi heard a strangled sound from behind himself, as if Hakuba was forced to bite his tongue at the insult that he would be unable to do his job correctly, even though he'd given up on catching Kaitou KID lately.

"Your fingerprints were on the murder weapon, you say that you were in your room, and the cameras show neither you nor the accused, Kihara Naomi, enter the victim's room, so what is it that says that you didn't do it when the evidence all points towards you?" Reiko asked, knowing what kind of alibi the detective had.  
>"Objection, your Honour," Eri stated as she stood up, "the question calls for speculation."<br>"Sustained, rephrase the question."

"Yes, your Honour," the black-haired woman nodded, "do you have an alibi?"  
>"There was someone else with me in my room," Shinichi forced himself to say while sending a glance to Eri, hoping that she could help him somehow, but Reiko hadn't asked any really unjustified questions.<br>"And who might that have been?" the woman continued while carrying an aura of smugness.  
>"That was Akera Kairi," Shinichi stated tensely.<br>"And this Akera Kairi is where to be found?"  
>"I don't know,"<br>"So this person just showed up and then vanished?" the Madonna of Prosecutions wondered and left a lingering feel to it, so Shinichi didn't answer and only let her continue, "isn't that a bit convenient? A strange person was with you from 02:04, according to the cameras, until when? As exactly as you can answer please."  
>"As I've stated before; I was unconscious and don't know when I was left alone," Shinichi answered, making sure to phrase the answer so that he could avoid mentioning the person's gender.<br>"Akera Kairi, allegedly woman going by the name, what gender is Akera?" Reiko questioned and Shinichi saw how Eri rose from her seat.  
>"Objection, your Honour, the question is irrelevant," the Queen of the Courtroom stated and Shinichi sighed, knowing that Reiko was going to find a way to fish the information she wanted.<p>

"Sustained, do you have any questions relevant to the case?" the judge wondered as she placed her fingertips together.  
>"Yes, your Honour,"<br>"Then you may proceed."

"Have you Kudou Shinichi, met this Akera Kairi before you two met at the hotel?"  
>"Yes,"<br>"So you know her?"  
>"Objection, your Honour," Eri stated again, "the question is too general."<br>"Overruled, I will allow it," the older woman stated, "the witness may answer the question."  
>"We've met," Shinichi confessed and clenched his teeth.<br>"Where, to be exactly?" Reiko smiled.  
>"Objection, your Honour," Eri stated again, "the question calls for a narrative answer."<p>

"Sustained. Kujo, you have to consider your questions more carefully or I won't allow you to question the witness."  
>"Yes, your Honour," the black-haired woman stated and gave the detective a scrutinising look, knowing that he was well-aware of the fact that he was avoiding her traps.<p>

"Did you meet Akera Kairi for the first time during an illegal act?" Reiko asked with a smile, aware that that was the case.  
>"Yes," Shinichi answered, sighing internally as he hadn't gotten away from the question.<br>"What kind of illegal act?"  
>"Theft,"<br>"So Akera Kairi is in fact a thief?" Reiko asked pleased.  
>"Yes,"<br>"What was Akera stealing when you two met for the first time?"  
>"The clock tower of Ekoda park," Shinichi stated and heard a buzz of whispers coming from the crowds.<br>"Order in the court," the judge called out and made the whispering die out.

"So you are in fact aware that your alibi consists of a thief that no one can get in contact with?" Reiko questioned.  
>"Objection, your Honour, the question is stupid," Eri's voice stated and made everyone turn to her.<br>"Excuse me?" the judge asked incredulous of what she'd heard.  
>"What? No, I didn't say that!" the blonde woman stated and then saw how Kaitou KID dropped down from the ceiling and landed on the post beside the gate in front of the crowd.<p>

"It's not hard to get in contact with me. Just print it in the paper, or send it on the news. Or just ask the question; is Kaitou KID here? Why yes, I am. It's not every day that I get the chance to glue Tantei-san to a bench in court," the thief grinned, seeing the Brit immediately try to get up, but failed as he really was stuck.  
>"I will not tolerate any magic in my court, now take a seat," the judge stated and stared at the thief that just sat down on the post. "On a chair," she clarified and saw the thief tilted his head.<br>"I've never really been known to be a stickler for rules, but feel free to call me up as a witness," KID smiled and vanished in a puff of smoke.

Shinichi was questioned a bit more from both sides and then asked to sit down, so he touched the bench beside the grumpy blonde to make sure that he didn't glue himself to it and then sat down.  
>"Calling Kaitou KID to the stand," Eri stated and then watched how the thief appeared behind the podium, seemingly happy with being there, and read the oath.<br>"Kaitou KID, you masqueraded as Akera Kairi, why?" Eri asked.  
>"The owner, Hagiwara Atsushi, gave me that identity together with an invitation card," the thief stated, moving a bit restlessly and made a coin seemingly run across his fingers.<br>"On the tape you're seen helping Kudou Shinichi to his room, why?"  
>"Because I saw that something was wrong with him as he came out of the restroom, and decided to help him there."<br>"Until which time did you stay?"  
>"05:20,"<br>"Why did you stay with him?"  
>"Because I was worried. The drug didn't seem like it was too dangerous, but I think that it was something similar to Rohypnol, judging by the fact that he fell asleep almost immediately, and while I waited I drew a heist note on him," Kaito answered with a small grin.<br>"You say that you left at 05:20, is there any evidence for that?" Eri questioned and made the thief frown.  
>"Nothing that would be accepted as evidence, but I spoke with my assistant before I left,"<br>"You left at 02:45 and returned at 02:47 to the room, why did you leave?"  
>"I had to get my gear that I had left on the floor above."<br>"According to the statement you left as Akera; you saw that something was different in the room, is this true?"  
>"Yes, Meitantei-san's tie was missing and his shirt was lying differently,"<br>"And the tie was there when you left to get your gear?"  
>"Yes,"<br>"Thank you, no further questions," Eri stated and sat down.

"Does the prosecutor want to cross-examine the witness?"  
>"Yes, your Honour," Reiko stated as she rounded the table by which she'd been sitting and then held up a note, "is this the note that Hagiwara gave you?"<br>"No, but it's a copy of it," KID smiled.  
>"This one has two identities on it, one female and the other male, why did you choose the female?"<br>"I fail to see the relevance of this question, but to answer it; for fun, and it's easier to get information while being an elderly lady and innocent girl."  
>"Is this is a picture of Akera Kairi?" Reiko asked and held up a picture that had been taken by a camera.<br>"Yes,"  
>"Is this your definition of innocent or elderly?" the woman asked and saw how Eri stood up.<br>"Objection, your Honour, this line of questioning is irrelevant to the case," the blonde woman stated, making the judge nod.

"Kujo, unless you have a point with these questions I will stop you,"  
>"Yes, your Honour, I have a point,"<br>"Then get to it."  
>"Yes, your Honour," Reiko nodded and fixed the thief with a firm gaze.<br>"The witness may answer the previous question,"  
>"No, the disguise –Akera– is neither innocent nor elderly,"<br>"According to the cameras you danced with Kudou Shinichi, is this true?"  
>"Yes,"<br>"Did you, or did you not, choose such a disguise to attract Kudou Shinichi to yourself?"  
>"Yes and no,"<br>"Please clarify,"  
>"I chose the disguise because I had heard that Meitantei-san had fallen in love, and I'm an awfully curious person, so I decided to go with a disguise that few men resists, and I got my information,"<br>"And this information was?"  
>"That he's attracted to the same gender,"<br>"How thorough are you when examining a heist location? Let me clarify; have you full knowledge of where the cameras are before breaking in?"  
>"Yes,"<p>

"Did you drug Kudou Shinichi while you danced?"  
>"<em>What?<em>"  
>"The witness may answer the question," the judge stated and sent a glance to the clearly annoyed thief.<br>"No, I most certainly did not,"  
>"Yet there's no evidence to substantiate that fact, since you have the ability to trick the cameras," Reiko stated coldly and continued her questioning, "now according to the cameras you helped the witness to his room after he was allegedly drugged, and then you painted this on his back, did you not?" the woman took a photo from her folder and showed it to the thief.<br>"Yes, I did,"

"How long did it take?"  
>"Between thirty minutes to an hour, I'm not certain," Kaito smiled a bit.<br>"According to you, you stayed with Kudou Shinichi in his room from 02:04 until 05:20. That's three hours and sixteen minutes. Did anything more happen other than the tattoo?"  
>"Are you implying what I think you are?" KID asked disturbed.<br>"Objection, your Honour, the question is ambiguous," Eri stated and saw that the thief was getting angry.

"Sustained, rephrase the question."  
>"Yes, your Honour," Reiko stated, "did you, Kaitou KID, have any kind of physical relation with the witness, Kudou Shinichi, during the two hours and sixteen minutes unaccounted for?"<br>"No," the thief growled, "but I suggest that you step carefully when accusing me of rape."  
>"The witness may <em>only<em> answer to the questions,"  
>"You stated that you did not drug the witness, so I'm not saying that you sexually abused him, I'm asking if it was consensual,"<br>"We had no physical relation," KID stated, wanting to make sure that the woman that he was beginning to dislike wasn't getting anything.

"From the information I've gathered you have brought the witness gifts, he has the cane right now, and there's photo evidence that you've broken into his house on multiple occasions, so it's a possibility. Have you ever had a physical relation with the witness on previous occasions?"  
>"No," the thief stated, keeping up the act that he wasn't Kuroba Kaito, "but by the same reasoning I could have a relation with Tantei-san, Nakamori-keibu or even Tantei-kun. Why aren't you accusing me of being a paedophile and a child molester when you're at it?"<br>"The witness may _only_ answer the questions," the judge cut in making the thief give her a disgruntled look.

"Your testimony isn't very good. We do not know who you are, you have no responsibilities and no penalties for lying."  
>"Your house could be full of traps..." the thief muttered only so loudly that the closest people to the crowds heard him, making them laugh and tell the ones behind what he'd said.<br>"Order in the court!" the judge stated loudly, "Kaitou KID, I advise you to not threaten the prosecutor."  
>"Ooh, it wasn't a threat, it's just a possibility," KID grinned and made the judge narrow her eyes at him, "but the possibility that her house is full of traps when she gets home is <em>much<em> greater than that of me being a rapist."

The thief continued to answer questions in a calm voice, intent on not getting his testimony disqualified for misbehaving and was then allowed to vanish as the court closed for that day, but at home in the Kudou library he couldn't help but to rant to both Hakuba and Shinichi about all of the traps he'd thought up during the time in court, whereas the detectives kept an eye on him while drinking their tea and coffee.  
>"Might I suggest something, Kuroba?" Hakuba asked loudly and watched the thief stop pacing while talking to himself. The blonde had forgiven his friend's boyfriend for the glue since he'd been able to get up from the bench as soon as the court was finished.<br>"What?" the annoyed thief wondered.  
>"Keep yourself from putting up traps in her house until the court is over, but if you have to prank her in order for your head to not explode I suggest that you do something small. Hide her keys. Move a picture frame. Pull out all of her chairs from the table. And try to keep yourself from doing anything at all. It will make Kaitou KID look more honourable and mature to not retaliate," the Brit stated and took a sip of his tea as he saw Kaito grin at him.<br>"Did you just give me advice on how to cause mischief and break the law?" he wondered and made the detective choke a bit on his drink.

* * *

><p>AN: I know nothing about court-stuff, so if something is wrong (there are lots of things that are wrong), you know why.


End file.
